Winter Solace
by Jett Allyson
Summary: It's Christmas at the Quest Compound, but before long Jonny, Jessie, and Hadji are running for their lives after trying to escape a custody feud between Jessie's parents...
1. Friday, December 22

Disclaimer: The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and all characters are copyrighted by Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc., and Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc., a Turner company. No copyright infringement is intended by their use in this story. Characters and stories are in no way affiliated with, approved of, or endorsed by Hanna Barbera or Turner Productions.

Winter Solace

by Jett Allyson

Friday, December 22nd

The sun rose as though a knife cutting through the glistening ice encrusting the New England terrain on that blustery December morning. Cardinals awoke with the first light of day, gently shaking icicles from the branches of the abundant forest surrounding the Quest Compound. Their chirping sounded on the bitter, cold breeze, bringing peace to the frozen world and reinforcing the knowledge that Christmas was near at hand.

Winter in Maine really was quite spectacular. No other state could match the quality of the season, the magnificent scenery of falling snow meeting the crest of waves crashing against the rock cliffs. And certainly no other state could boast being home to the most well renowned scientist of his generation—Dr. Benton Quest.

Benton rose with the Cardinals that morning. He had always been a fan of winter and enjoyed waking even earlier than normal, which was saying quite a lot in his case, being a man who made it a point to make the most of each day by being an early riser. But during the fall and winter he rose with the intention of enjoying each day to its fullest. He would traipse through the fallen leaves in the forest, dash across the barren beach, trudge through the drifts of snow—indeed, Benton revisited his childhood this time each year. The Christmas season, however, was the pinnacle of his enjoyment, and what he most loved to do first thing in the early winter morning was sip a mug of steaming peppermint tea in his favorite armchair across from the giant living room window facing the front lawn.

This morning was no exception, and an hour later as Benton was relaxing in the morning sunlight reading the Wall Street Journal, the sound of tumultuous footsteps pierced the silence of the house, causing Benton to look up. He knew the source of the noise, even before he saw the blur of blond, red, and black hair rush past him, greeting him briefly, and proceeding toward the front door and out into the much colder temperature outside. Yes, Benton may have been a world-famous scientist and phenomenologist, but he was also the father of two sons (one his own biological son Jonny and the elder an adopted Indian boy named Hadji.) Furthermore he had also opened his home to a personal bodyguard Race Bannon, assigned by the government to protect Dr. Quest and his inventions, and to Race's 17-year-old daughter, Jessie.

Jonny, Jessie, and Hadji were inseparable from the moment that the three of them had met, and although unrelated, all considered each other family. Benton considered himself the luckiest man in the world to have had the opportunity to explore the world, to have lived through so many perilous encounters as a result of exploration, and to have had his family by his side the entire time. The past few months had been pretty quiet in comparison, but he welcomed the change and was adjusting nicely to the peace and quiet that came with it.

Jonny was a blond-haired, blue-eyed version of his father—he was full of adventure and curiosity, and while he was less level headed than the rational Dr. Quest, Jonny shared his father's passion for the outdoors. On that morning, Jonny had decided to take an early walk before breakfast. He was unanimously joined by Jessie and Hadji, who loved adventure as much as he, and the three of them hurried out into the icy weather beyond the mansion walls.

An hour later the three teenagers trudged back through the front door. Each was laden with ice, and they were shivering from head to foot. But they still smiled and laughed all the way into the kitchen, where Race looked up from his newspaper.

"What on earth have you been doing?"

"Racing each other across the lawn on our knees," said Hadji, brushing ice crystals out of his shoulder-length black hair.

"Looks like you've been skating on more than just your knees," Benton commented, taking two heaping plates of pancakes offered to him by the housekeeper, Mrs. Evans. "Go upstairs, you three, and change into warm clothes." Then, noting Jonny's attempt at protesting, he added, "Your breakfast will be here when you get back. Now go."

Defeated, Jonny followed his friends out of the warm kitchen. Benton sighed and turned to Race.

"Sometimes when I see those three leave the house, I wonder if they'll come back alive."

Race stifled a laugh as he joined Benton at the table. Mrs. Evans added a platter of scrambled eggs to the pancakes already on the table. She then continued to bustle around the kitchen and had finished cleaning up, when the kids returned. Their noses and cheeks were still rosy, but they appeared considerably warmer. As the teenagers sat down to eat, Mrs. Evans started toward the kitchen door. "Dr. Quest, if you won't be needing me any longer, I'll go start on the laundry," she said, her hand on the swinging door.

"That'll be fine," Benton responded, turning to look at her and smiling. "We'll clean the dishes when we're done. Thanks."

"So, Ponchita," Race said, turning to Jessie, "what are you planning on doing today?"

"Well," Jessie began, replacing her fork on her plate, and grabbing her glass of orange juice, "Jonny, Hadji, and I were going to go Christmas shopping this afternoon. I haven't even begun to start looking, and when Mom gets here, I'll want to spend time with her, rather than rushing around the mall."

"All right," Race responded. "Well, it's been so busy around here with Benton's conference in England and the extra security files that we added to Quest World, that we haven't started decorating yet, so Benton and I were wondering if you three wanted to start on that this morning, and then we could set up the tree tonight after you return from your shopping."

"You don't want to wait for Mom before setting up the tree?" Jessie asked.

"Well, I already talked to your mom about that, a couple of days ago, and she said that she thought she'd be too tired from the trip to help with the tree. She never really enjoyed setting up the tree anyway. But she definitely wants to go caroling while she's here."

Jessie sighed, and turned back to her eggs. Her parents had been divorced for the past five years. She had gotten used to it and had even come to accept it, but it always hurt more over the holidays. During the first year after the divorce, Jessie had lived with her mom in Brazil. Her mother was an archeologist and never spent more than a couple of months living in one place, but in the months following the divorce, Estella had thought that Jessie needed more stability in her life and had arranged to spend the year working on a series of digs in Brazil. Jessie had spent that first Christmas with her mother, but the following year she had traveled to Maine to spend the week with her father at the Quest Compound. She had missed him terribly after being away from him for over a year, but she was still nervous to visit him. She had never met the Quests and knew that her father lived with two boys Jessie's age. She and the boys developed an instant rapport, however, and when it came time for her to return to her mother, she opted to stay in Maine instead. Race helped fight her case, and in the end Estella had given in. She agreed that Jessie would be able to lead a more normal life if she was able to go to the same school year-round, rather than hopping from one school to another in South America. Furthermore, Estella thought that it would be good for Jessie to have friends her own age, and she knew that Benton was a good man and would help Race look after Jessie. During the next few years, Estella was too busy to visit very often. One year Jessie spent Christmas with her mother in Egypt, but missed the snow and pine trees so much that she stayed at the Compound every year after. This year, Estella agreed to come to Maine for Christmas. She was flying in the following day at 2:50 PM, and Jessie hoped that they would all have a quiet Christmas. She was glad that her parents had become better friends in the past few years. They got along much better since the divorce, and Jessie did not care that they were not married any more. They were happy, and that was all that mattered.

After breakfast, the children helped their fathers clean off the table, and then all of them set about decorating the house for Christmas. It was a big job, decorating the living and dining rooms, Benton's study, the library and kitchen and family room, and all of the rooms upstairs. Benton was a believer in bringing the seasonal spirit to every inch of the mansion, not just the room containing the Christmas tree.

Mrs. Evans had already left by 11:00 that morning, wishing the family a merry Christmas, as she passed them hanging garlands from the stair railings and placing candles in the windows. She had been the Quests' housekeeper ever since Benton's wife Rachel died eight years earlier. Benton had fallen into a state of depression, and when Race was assigned to the family, he thought that the female presence would do everyone some good. Not to mention that none of them was real great at cleaning. Mrs. Evans came every day to prepare the meals and to tidy up. She did the laundry twice a week, and on weekends she would prepare dinner early, for the family to heat up later, so that she could leave by 4:00. She had off every other Sunday, but for Christmas Benton had given her a week and a half off with pay. He made sure that she left by 11:00 that morning and would not let her return until January 2nd. She had her own family to visit, and Benton did not see the necessity of her spending her holidays looking after them.

The morning passed quickly as the family sang along to Johnny Mathis CDs and spruced up the house. Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji left around 2:00, after having lunch with their fathers, and Benton retreated to his study to review the success of the new programs inserted into Quest World. Race watched the kids' car leave the driveway and vanish around the tree line after crossing through the security gate. He watched the first signs of flurries falling from the sky as he sipped a cup of coffee. After all that this family had been through over the past 10 years, he could not help but wish that this year might actually bring a perfect Christmas.

The streets of Rockport were crowded with Christmas shoppers. Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji made their way along the busy sidewalks, past store windows, alight with holiday decorations. Every now and then they would enter one of the cozy gift shops or larger clothing stores to browse the merchandise.

"Mom said that she needed a new briefcase for all of her expedition records," Jessie said, as the three young people made their way out of the blustery air into the warmth of Duncan's Leather and Travel Accessories. "She's had the same tired travel case for the past ten years. I want to buy her one that has separate compartments for files but can also carry a water bottle, her camera, and other things like maps."

"Well you chose the right place," said Hadji, as he gazed at the various travel bags and business attaches. The boys searched the stacks of merchandise, while Jessie chose a handsome leather messenger bag that was actually twenty percent off, because it was last year's model.

By the time they had left the shop and rejoined the hustle and bustle on the streets, it was 4:30 PM. Jonny suggested that they warm up over some cups of coffee at The Funky Frappuccino. Five minutes later they were relaxing in front of a window facing the public library. Jessie was sipping her raspberry mocha and gazing out of the frosted window, when Jonny called her back into reality.

"Are you all right, Jess? You've seemed kind of upset the past couple of days."

"I'm fine," Jessie replied, with a sigh. "I'm so excited about my mom coming to visit, but I'm kind of worried about how my parents will get along. They haven't seen each other for almost two years. I'm not really worried that they won't get along," Jessie paused and stared at her coffee before looking Jonny in the eyes. "I'm afraid that my mom will want me to go back to living with her." A silence hung over the table so long that Jessie wondered if Jonny would answer, but it was Hadji who finally spoke up.

"Your mother loves you, Jessie. She will respect your choice; I am sure." Jessie smiled vaguely and allowed the conversation to end. They spent the next hour finishing their shopping: Jonny bought his dad a warmer winter coat than his present one (Dr. Quest had recently taken up hiking in his spare time, and since the coastal winter winds are especially vicious in Maine, he knew that he would need a better coat) and a new collar for his little bull dog Bandit; Hadji bought Race a hand held compass with a language translator. Then they hurried home to find their fathers grappling with a giant blue spruce, trying to force it into the tree holder near the great picture window in the living room. Hadji and Jonny rushed over to assist, while Jessie brought all of their purchases upstairs.

Half and hour later the five of them were pulling old ornaments out of the cascade of boxes that had come from the attic. The tree was eight feet tall, so Race was standing on a step latter stringing lights around the top of the tree, while Benton worked the bottom of the tree. Over the next hour, the tree transformed into a reflection of holiday spirit as each family member added favorite traits—tinsel, child-made ornaments, pinecones—and Bandit danced happily around their feet.

As the moon rose higher in the night sky, the family members settled in arm chairs and on sofas around the room, sipping hot chocolate, and admiring their masterpiece to the tune of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," sung by Karen Carpenter. As Jessie relaxed near the window, she considered the next few days. This was Jessie's favorite time of year, and she prayed that her mother's visit would be as joyous as the season.


	2. Saturday, December 23

Saturday, December 23rd

Jessie rose later than she had intended. She glanced out of her bedroom window as she rushed to get dressed and saw that it had begun to flurry again. The ice from the previous morning had not melted, so she knew that the falling snow would make the already icy ground pretty slippery.

She hurried down the stairs to join the rest of the family already at breakfast. Her mom would not be arriving until that afternoon, but Jessie had wanted to make sure that her room and the rest of the house was perfect, so she knew that this morning would be a hectic one. On her way to the kitchen, she passed the remnants of the previous night's party—giant boxes overflowing with tissue paper still sat on the floor, empty tree light packages lay on the couch, and pine needles already littered the carpet. Jessie rolled her eyes as she continued down the hall to the kitchen and pushed open the swinging kitchen door. Race looked up from his coffee and newspaper when Jessie entered the room.

"Morning, Ponchita," he said. Jessie pulled up a seat between Hadji and Dr. Quest. She reached for the box of Honey Nut Cheerios and poured herself a bowl, thinking sardonically that the first morning of Mrs. Evans' vacation, the Quest family has cereal.

When Jessie failed to respond to his greeting, Race continued, "I'm going to pick up your mother at the airport this afternoon. I'll leave around noon, but before I go," he turned to Jonny and Hadji, "will you two help me bring those Christmas ornament boxes back into the attic?"

"Of course we will help, Race," Hadji replied, as Jonny simply nodded and chewed a mouthful of Cheerios. Suddenly Jessie felt as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

"I'll vacuum up those pine needles on the floor," she piped up, more cheerfully than even she had expected. Why had she ever thought that she would have to clean the entire house by herself? In fact, the house was pretty clean—Mrs. Evans had finished all of the laundry already and had tidied up most of the rooms, including the guest room in which her mother would be staying. Even Jessie's room looked pretty decent, with the exception of some rogue clothes, and she could easily remedy that problem.

In those brief moments her morning brightened considerably, and suddenly she realized that she was smiling. How long had she been sitting here lost in her thoughts, and how long had her family been staring at her? She looked up to see all eyes at the table on her.

"What?" she asked, pouring herself a glass of cranberry juice. As everyone returned to their food, Jessie realized how excited she was for her mother to arrive that afternoon.

The grandfather clock in the front hall had just chimed eleven o'clock when Jessie came down the stairs wearing a heavy red ski jacket and a white knitted hat. Jonny looked up as she passed the living room.

"Where are you going?" he said. The snow had picked up a little and was quickly collecting on the ground.

"I'm going into town to buy a Poinsettia for Mom's guestroom, so she'll see it when she gets here." She was pulling on her gloves, when Jonny came to stand in the doorway to the hall. "Do you want to come?"

"Sure," he replied, turning to retrieve his coat from the hall closet. "We should pick up some soda and chips too. I think we're out, and Dad'll be busy working in the lab for a few hours." They told Hadji where they were going, but he said that he would stay behind, to finish up his physics project. As they left the house, Hadji heard Jonny say, "Only Hadji would do homework on the second day of a two-week vacation."



Two hours later Hadji sat in the living room reading, having completed his project an hour before. He glanced at his watch and thought that his friends should have been back a while ago. The snow had stopped falling, he noted, but the roads might be really bad. Just as he turned to look out the window he saw Jessie's car coming up the driveway. Hadji walked over to open the front door and stood in the doorway as Jonny and Jessie walked from the garage.

"The roads are horrible," Jonny yelled to Hadji, as he hurried across the lawn. "There was an accident on Bradley Street. Traffic was backed up for miles." Just as he approached the front steps, he saw Bandit push past Hadji and tear off across the yard toward the cliffs.

"Oh man!" Jonny yelled, setting his shopping bag on the porch. Jessie handed Hadji her Poinsettia and chased after Jonny, icy snow crunching loudly under her feet.

Jonny was the first to reach Bandit, who had chased a squirrel up a tree. Jessie began to slow down as she approached, but when her right foot made contact with a patch of ice on the sidewalk, she lost her footing and fell backwards, hitting her head hard on the pavement. For a moment she did not move, and Jonny and Hadji both ran to her. She opened her eyes and muttered an obscenity before reaching up to touch her head. "Ow," was all she said, and she made to sit up, but Jonny stopped her,

"No, don't move. I'll go get my dad. Hadji, make sure she does NOT move." He ran away toward the lighthouse on the cliffs, where the computer lab was situated on the second floor, two floors below the light.

Hadji knelt down on the sidewalk next to Jessie. He had expected her to protest to Jonny's order, but instead she just lay quietly. Her head was throbbing, and she felt like crying. She could not remember the last time that she had cried. What would Hadji say? Would he think that she was seriously hurt? I'm fine, she thought to herself. I'll have a bad headache for a while, but after a couple of Aleve I'll be as good as new. But Hadji knew something that Jessie did not. He knew why Jonny had been so concerned. The snow beneath Jessie's head had turned red with blood. A moment later Benton and Jonny arrived and joined Hadji next to Jessie.

"Jessie," Benton said quietly, but urgently, "can you feel your hands and feet?" Jessie responded after a couple of seconds,

"Yes. I'm okay, really. My head just hurts..."

"Jessie," Benton interrupted, "you hit your head pretty badly. The snow is probably helping to numb it a little, but I'll have to call an ambulance. Head injuries are very serious." As Benton disappeared from her side, Jessie was sure that her heart rate must have increased significantly at that moment. She knew she was not paralyzed. She could feel her legs—but what if she had a concussion? She gazed up at Jonny, who looked scared, and she asked the question that had been plaguing her,

"Is my head bleeding," she breathed. Jonny took hold of her left hand.

"Yes, a little," he replied, "but your hat is acting like a gauze." I don't want to lift her head in case of a spinal injury, he thought to himself. But Dr. Quest came back that moment and told them that the ambulance was on its way. Jessie shut her eyes. Her mom would be there in a few hours. _Why did this have to happen now?_ She thought she heard sirens in the distance. Then she felt a pressure on her stomach. She opened her eyes and looked down to see Bandit lying across her coat. If she didn't know better she would have thought that he felt bad for her.

It was five o'clock before Jessie, Jonny, and Benton returned to the Compound. Estella Bannon and Race had arrived at the compound around four o'clock after braving the treacherous roads. Hadji filled them in on Jessie's accident and said that she was all right. Race and Estella had wanted to go to the hospital, but when they called Benton on his cell phone, he said that Jessie was almost done and that they would be home soon.

Jessie had needed seven stitches on the back of her head. She had not lost too much blood-the hat that she had been wearing had soaked up some blood, and the snow had helped in slowing the blood flow. Jessie greeted her mother when they met in the entrance hall.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you arrived, Mom," Jessie said, hugging her. Her head still ached, but she did not feel the stitches. She just felt very worn out.

"It's okay, sweetheart," Estella said soothingly. "I'm just so glad that you're all right. I wish that I had been here for you." She turned to Benton and said, "Thank you so much for taking care of her." Benton shook his head and said,

"It was my pleasure. Jessie is the daughter that I never had. Why don't we all sit down in the living room? I'll bring some apple cider." As the group made its way out of the entranceway, Jessie whispered to Hadji,

"Where did you put the Poinsettia?" Hadji smiled and said,

"Do not worry, my friend. It is on the night stand in the guest room."

"You're the best Hadj!" Jessie whispered before joining her mother on the couch facing the tree. Benton joined them a few minutes later and handed around hot cider. Estella accepted her mug and said,

"Benton, you five did a great job decorating. And this tree is fabulous." Race laughed and said,

"I had to twist Benton's arm to get the spruce. He thought it was too tall."

"Well, I think it's perfect," said Estella. "Oh," she sighed, "it's so nice to be up here for the holidays. When Race and I were first married, we lived in Virginia for two years, and we actually had a white Christmas one year, just like in the movies. I miss that in Colombia. I miss the snow and pine trees. It's not the same singing Christmas carols in Spanish under a palm tree in 80 degree weather."

The others smiled. They agreed silently that they were lucky to live in such a beautiful place. Jessie thanked God that they could all spend Christmas together that year.


	3. Sunday, December 24

Sunday, December 24th

Christmas Eve dawned cheerfully in the Quest Compound. Everyone ate an early breakfast and talked animatedly about what they had planned for that day. Jonny and Hadji were going out with some friends from school. Benton had some work to finish up in the lab. Race was going to secure the house for the blizzard that the Weather Channel had predicted for Christmas, and Jessie and Estella had planned to go into town for a few hours.

Jessie was a little fatigued from the previous night. Because the doctors had suspected that Jessie might have a slight concussion, Estella had to pull up a cot in Jessie's room and wake her up every couple of hours to make sure that Jessie would wake. Jessie was cheerful, nonetheless, and was looking forward to the day.

Jessie and Estella arrived in town about 10:00, for some serious shopping. First they headed for Tillman's clothing store, where they both searched for gifts for Race and Benton. The crowds were enormous, but the two Bannons did not care. They spent the morning trying on clothes, laughing at some of the ridiculous new styles, and window-shopping along the thoroughfare. Jessie bought Hadji and Jonny some new videogames, which Jessie was certain that Jonny would modify to work in Quest World. An invention of Dr. Quest's, Quest World was a virtual-reality computer program based out of the lighthouse lab. Since they were planning on going home for lunch, they stopped in Dunkin Donuts for only a few minutes to buy a couple of Vanilla Chais. Jessie had highly recommended them to her mother, who finally gave in.

"You're right Jess, this is pretty good. Warmed me right up," Estella said with a smile. They were sitting in the window, watching last-minute shoppers dash from one store to another. "So you haven't told me much about your life lately," Estella began, setting her cup on the table. "How's school going? How're your friends doing? Are you still friends with Alicia?"

"Well, yeah, everything's fine," Jessie replied, trying to register all of the questions that her mother had just thrown at her. "School is okay. I have a history project due in a few weeks, but I've already done most of the research for that. The project is on Ancient Mesopotamia and the Euphrates environment, and Dr. Quest told me about this research program that he had developed in Quest World. It's kind of like a time travel program, but when I traveled back to Mesopotamia, I was just an observer. I wasn't actually there, so nobody could see or hear me, but at the same time, I could follow the people around and learn their way of life as if I was experiencing it myself. I could even feel the warmth of the air and the breeze coming across the river. It's a great program."

"That's amazing!" Estella said, hanging on Jessie's every word. "If you can experience it first hand, it must make studying it through a history book really dull in comparison."

"Maybe a little; but I like having the knowledge of what to expect before I see it for myself. It's also fun to see the discrepancies between what's in the history books and what really happened. I'll have to be careful, though, when I write the report. I don't want to make it look like I know something that the historians don't."

"Well, it certainly sounds like you're learning a lot. I guess you don't miss living with me very much."

"Mom!" Jessie looked up, shocked. "That is NOT true. I miss you so much. I think of you all the time, and what I learned on the excavation sites in Colombia and in the ancient Malenque ruins has given me so much background to work with in classes. When I lived with you, I was able to do things that very few people do, much less kids my age. But I missed Dad, and I really like being with Jonny and Hadji. They're my best friends and they're like brothers to me." Jessie paused, looking down at her Vanilla Chai. "It wasn't easy for me to choose which life to live and which parent to live with..."

"I know it wasn't, sweetheart," Estella sighed. "And I'm sorry. I'm the one who chose to lead the life that I do. And I don't blame you for choosing a more stable one..." More stable, perhaps, but not by much, Jessie thought. Up until a few months ago, Jessie had been traveling around the world most of the time with the Quests solving crimes, rescuing lost treasures, and fighting evildoers. Jessie did not want to point this out to her mother, though. Jessie had traded one hectic life with her mom for another hectic life with her dad. She had not chosen a stable life—she had chosen her father over her mother. Jessie wondered if her mother had noticed that too.

The conversation was dying. Jessie and Estella had left Dunkin Donuts and were walking toward the car. It was only 1:00 PM, but already the sky was beginning to darken. Desperate to keep their mood upbeat Jessie said,

"Oh, by the way, Alicia and Jonny are dating now."

"They are?" Estella whipped around, obviously interested and amused, which was

Jessie's desired effect. "Since when?"

"A few weeks ago. Remember Alicia had really long hair? It was so bushy, and the length did not suit her at all. So finally she decided to get her hair cut in layers falling just below her shoulders. She started using hair gel and really played up her naturally curly hair, which nobody had realized that she even had, since she always brushed it straight." Jessie had been fumbling in her wallet and just then retrieved a picture, which she handed to her mother.

"Alicia?" Estella said, incredulously. "Wow, what a difference!"

"Jonny thought so too," Jessie said, with a smirk. "They've been out a couple of times. I haven't seen her much lately, but she'll be coming to the New Year's Eve party that Jonny, Hadji, and I are having."

"Well, isn't that something," Estella said, handing the picture back to Jessie. "Oh, but are you okay with this? She's your best friend, and you used to have a bit of a crush on Jonny."

"'Used to,' Mom. That's the optimum word. Things are different now. I see Jonny and Hadji as friends—nothing more."

They arrived back at the mansion to find it deserted. This was not surprising; Race was probably outside working, Benton still in the lighthouse. They all knew that Jonny and Hadji would be out until around 5:00. So Jessie and Estella settled down in the family room with some sandwiches. Jessie loved to just sit around the house, especially at this time of day. The sun filtered through the great windows and lit up the room. Even though the house was so huge, it really was quite peaceful. Dr. Quest had brought a lot of Rachel's belongings with him when he and the boys had moved from the Miami Complex. Benton had been so consumed with grief after his wife had died, that he put anything that had reminded him of Rachel into storage. But when he decided to move north, Benton retrieved Rachel's paintings and furniture from storage and brought them with him to Maine. Jessie wondered what the mansion would look like without those feminine touches and antiques—not nearly as special, Jessie thought, nor as welcoming.

When Jonny and Hadji returned that evening, they found Jessie and Estella watching the end of White Christmas. They could hear Bing Crosby's voice when they walked through the front door. "What do you do with a general, when he stops being a general..."

"Now it feels like Christmas," Jonny said as he walked into the darkened room.

"Jessie watches that movie every Christmas Eve."

"So do I," said Estella. "Even when Jessie was little, she watched it with me."

"Are Dr. Quest and my dad around?" Jessie asked.

"We saw Race bringing the extension latter into the garage when we parked," said

Hadji, "but the light in the lighthouse lab is out. Maybe Dr. Quest is on his way back." They heard the back door slam and Benton joined them in the living room.

"Hi everyone," he said, a little breathless. "Merry Christmas!" He pulled off his coat, but he was still shivering.

"Has it gotten colder out?" Estella wondered.

"A little," Benton responded, joining Jonny on the couch next to the TV. "But it doesn't feel like snow yet."

"Well, we'll see," said Estella. "Can I help you with dinner? Did you have anything planned?"

"Actually," Benton said, "We have a little Christmas Eve tradition as far as dinner is concerned. We make bruchetta, deviled eggs, a veggie platter, and grilled chicken salad. It's just a meal made up of appetizers."

"Wow. That sounds like fun," Estella said. "Need any help?"

"Of course," said Benton, "Do you know how to make deviled eggs?"



The family celebrated Christmas Eve with their little party over the next couple of hours, as they talked, and Estella, Race, and Benton told of their childhood Christmases. At 8:00 they dressed in heavy coats, hats, scarves, and gloves, and they drove down to Clifton, where they joined a group of friends for caroling. This was a yearly tradition that

Benton especially loved. Living on the cliffs, the Quests were pretty isolated from any neighbors or friends. Caroling always brought them together. Between singing at houses, Benton talked with Dr. Reynolds, a professor at the University of Maine, who was visiting family in Rockport. The two men had known each other for years. Dr. Reynolds taught sociology at the university, and the two were now comparing a speech that Dr. Quest had given at a conference in England with a workshop that Dr. Reynolds had facilitated at a convention in San Francisco.

"I understand," Dr. Quest said, "that one of the keynote speakers at the conference was Dr. Joseph Barnes? I've never had the pleasure of meeting him, but I've heard about his work. In fact I read an interview the other day, which he gave in a science journal. It mentioned that he might have stumbled upon an invisibility potion. I would not have thought it possible."

"Well," Dr. Reynolds answered, "he didn't mention that at the conference, so I don't know anything about that, but I'll certainly keep an ear out. I would be interested to know how any potion would be able to rearrange the molecules of the body in order to make them invisible."

"Hey, Dad, over here!" Jonny yelled to his father, who had almost walked past the house at which the rest of the group had stopped. Drs. Quest and Reynolds had agreed to continue their conversation later, and they joined the merry group in singing "Frosty the Snowman."


	4. Monday, December 25

Monday, December 25th

It was after 1:30 AM before the Quests and Bannons returned from midnight mass to pour themselves into bed; each of them fell immediately to sleep. The snow had begun to fall just after 11:00 PM, slowly at first, but soon picking up density and speed. The family had decided to risk the trip to church anyway, determining that the snow would not likely collect too much in the first couple of hours. Overnight, however, they were due for quite a blizzard, so Christmas morning mass was out of the question.

Not one of them awoke before 10:00 AM, and although on almost every other day of the year the family members would be fully dressed by the time that they arrived at the breakfast table, it had become sort of a tradition on Christmas morning for them to remain in their pajamas late into the day.

"That is perfectly fine with me," Estella commented when she joined Benton, Race, and Jessie in the living room. "If I had my way, I would spend all of my time in pj's." She, herself, was looking pretty festive in red and white flannel pajamas and white, fluffy slippers. Jessie looked her twin only in green and white. Benton and Race wore bathrobes over their clothes.

By the time that Hadji and Jonny had joined the four in the living room, Benton had brought a tray from the kitchen piled high with cranberry bread, hot chocolate for the kids, and coffee for the adults. Mrs. Evans had made the bread before she had left for the week—Benton had pulled it out of the freezer to defrost it in the oven twenty minutes earlier.

"That storm certainly is something," Benton said, as Race whistled at the sight of the swirling snow outside. "I can't see three feet out the window. Somehow it doesn't seem like a white Christmas, if I can't see the snow on the ground."

"Is it supposed to last all day?" Jonny asked.

"Well, the Weather Channel said to expect it, but maybe there'll be an update on the radio." He chose a local station, known to start playing 24-hour Christmas music at noon on Christmas Eve. "Those stations that start with Christmas music at Thanksgiving are too much," Race had said once. "By Christmas, I'm sick of hearing the same songs over and over." The weather report came on shortly after Dr. Quest had turned on the radio.

"You are listening to WBAL, and here is your 30 second weather update," the deejay announced. "Rockport and the surrounding areas of Wesley and Lewiston should expect blizzard conditions with heavy snow accumulation for the rest of today. Eventual snowfall may reach ten to fourteen inches by tonight, tapering off around 8:00. Enjoy the weather and have yourself a very, merry Christmas."

"Well," Benton sighed contentedly, "it's a good thing that we don't have to go anywhere today." The others nodded their agreement, all watching the snow. "So, who's ready to open presents?" A few moments later, he was lost in the fury of wrapping paper flying through the air to eventually cover the floor, mimicking the action of the storm outside. The Pretenders' rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" floated throughout the room, creating the mood.

Only a few hours later, the snow decided to be unpredictable and began to taper off around 2:00. The family decided to finally get dressed in sweatshirts and jeans and venture outside into the winter wonderland. Snow covered every branch of every tree, glistening in the sun. Jessie could not remember the last time that it had snowed on Christmas Day. In previous years it had snowed a day or two before or after, but not on the 25th. It seemed magical to tread on newly fallen snow on Christmas, although she did agree with Jonny that it seemed strange. She had begun to disassociated snow with Christmas—now she would have to allow her idea of a normal Christmas to evolve.

As darkness began to fall on the snow-covered Quest Compound, the exhausted but joyous family tumbled back into the front hall of the mansion, their hair dripping and their faces flushed, but laughing nonetheless.

"I'll start dinner right after I change into some dry clothes," Benton announced, turning the corner around the living room to head for the stairs.

"I'll help you with dinner, Benton," Race called to him, before hanging his coat in the laundry room on the other side of the kitchen, allowing a small puddle to form on the tile floor beneath the coat. Bandit had remained inside during all of the snow fun, being too small to run around in ten inches of snow. He now ran to greet his sodden family, barking ferociously at the large snowflakes that had once again begun to flutter to the ground before Jonny slammed the door behind him, shivering at the final gust of wind that had managed to enter the warm, welcoming bower that was the Quest mansion.

After changing into comfortable fleece or sweats, Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji flopped down on the cream-colored leather couch in the living room and stared absently out of the window at the falling snow.

"I am worn out," Jonny said, following his statement with a heavy sigh.

"I'm starved," Jessie added.

"Well," Hadji said, "we are having what we have every Christmas: honey-roasted ham, garlic-roasted potatoes, and homemade bread, courtesy of Mrs. Evans."

"Mrs. E. is a great cook," Jonny acknowledged, "but no one can match Dad's ham." The other two teenagers nodded their agreement and allowed the silence to envelope them. Estella joined them shortly after, just as the wonderful smells of dinner began to waft under the kitchen door and met their noses and appetites in the living room.

"Oh, that smells amazing," Jonny commented, practically drooling on his shirt.

"Well," Benton replied, joining them from the kitchen and drying his hands on a red checkered dish towel, "it's almost ready. The ham has been baking for the past four hours, so it's pretty much finished. Race is taking the bread out of the oven, so get ready for a feast, everyone."

They followed him, almost stampede-like, and gathered the plates and utensils needed for the meal to carry them into the dining room, which already donned a fancy Christmas tablecloth across the massive ten-person table and welcomed them with instrumental Christmas music.

"This is beautiful," Estella said, gazing in wonder at the chandeliers above the table and gilded sconces on the walls. The three tall windows in the dining room provided them a perfect view of the glistening snowflakes against a darkening sky, with the red and gold curtains framing the scene.

It had seemed a perfect day as everyone, full from their Christmas dinner, began to wander aimlessly around the house, taking time to themselves. Estella, however impressed by the lovely holiday played out at the Quest mansion, could not help feeling uneasy about Jessie's accident two days before. She had tried to convince herself that it was after all just an accident, but then she remembered all of the near-death experiences that Jessie had had in the past, as a result of being included on Benton Quest's excursions. The more she thought about it, the more upset she became at the thought of her teenaged daughter being exposed to such unnecessary violence. Jessie had been in an airplane that had almost crashed into a mountain. She had been saved at the last minute by Jonny's quick thinking and aptitude at a flight simulator. Estella still did not understand the entire story, but it had not seemed like a situation in which Jessie should have been. She had found out long afterwards that Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji had stolen a government agent's credit card to buy plane tickets to fly to Salt Lake City just for the opportunity to be on that plane that had almost crashed into a mountain. And the plane, for Pete's sake, had been Air Force One! And that was just one of the several dangerous (and illegal) situations in which Jessie had been.

She had also almost died a few times in Quest World, had been kidnapped by a crazy man pretending to be the ghost of a long dead pirate, and had almost fallen off of a mountain somewhere in Nepal, from what Estella had heard. And Race had taken Jessie into that last situation! Estella was beginning to wonder if Jessie would not be safer living with her in Colombia...

She found Benton and Race sitting in front of the fire in the living room later that evening. Once again the radio was on and was currently playing one of her all time favorite Christmas songs, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." She had not intended on mentioning to Race her concerns about Jessie, and now that she was feeling in better spirits, she definitely did not want to ruin the mood of Christmas Day. Deciding to think about it more over the rest of her visit, Estella joined the two men in the glow of the leaping flames.

"This song is so funny," Estella said, sitting down in an armchair. "Jessie used to laugh hysterically every time this song came on the radio. I haven't heard it in a few years, though."

"They just started playing it again last year," Benton responded. "I hadn't heard it for awhile either."

"Benton and I were talking about the past few Christmases with the kids," Race said, adding some newspaper to the fire. "We haven't spend too many in this house, which is a shame. It seems like this house was made for the holidays with its stone fireplaces, snowy winters, and location near the mountains. It would be any person's dream for a holiday getaway."

"I agree," Estella remarked, looking around the room at the shadows playing on the walls and thinking that it reminded her of "A Christmas Carol." She could imagine the Ghost of Christmas Past appearing suddenly to bring her back to childhood Christmases. "I'm so glad that I was able to take these two weeks off from my projects. So tell me about Christmases past at the Quest Compound," she added with a smile.

"Well, the first year that Jessie lived here," Benton began, "the kids were all in a holiday play at school. The boys just had small parts in the chorus, but Jessie had a solo. She didn't tell us about it, and Jonny and Hadji kept it a secret, amazingly, so we were pretty surprised when we saw her approaching center stage, during the play."

"I didn't even know that she could sing," Race added, shaking his head. Estella realized that Race must have regretted not having spent more time with Jessie during her childhood. When Jessie had come to live with her father, Race had had to re-meet his daughter in a way. He had not known her favorite food or what types of music she listened to. But Race proved to be a very devoted father, and he learned all of those things and more. Now it was Estella who felt like she did not know her own daughter. Thank goodness for email, she thought.

"Jessie sang beautifully," Benton was saying. "She earned a standing ovation. But she never really sang in public after that. Maybe it's because we were always traveling, so she didn't have enough time to practice for plays or concerts. We always made sure that the kids kept up with their studies, though, even on the road."

"Plus, the kids have more world experience than anyone else in their high school," said Race. Then he laughed and continued, "Benton, I remember you telling me about when you and the boys went to New Jersey and happened across the 'Jersey Devil.'" Benton laughed too, and turned to Estella.

"We met these people who lived in a cabin in the woods, who eventually told us that their ancestor had stolen the original Declaration of Independence! The one in Washington is a copy, but of course the government will never admit to it being a forgery. Can you imagine how bad it would look if the nation found out that the founding fathers had lost the original proclamation to secede from England and form a separate nation?"

"It's amazing all of the things that we've learned during our travels," Race mused.

After a moment of reflection he continued, "We even made alliances with criminals, because we didn't have any other choice. Like when we called on Captain Havel, Benton, even though he had once tried to kill Jonny."

"Well, Jessie was stuck in an undersea cavern, and we knew she was alive, because she sent us a signal, but we couldn't get to her, because Surd had all of the whales under mind control. So we called Captain Havel, because we knew he would do anything for the whales and would do anything to destroy anyone who was trying to harm a whale."

"Was Jessie in real danger?" Estella asked, horrified at the thought of her daughter trapped in an underwater cavern with a diminishing air supply.

"Well, at first we didn't know where she was," Benton explained, soberly. "She and Jonny had been out on the water, when a whale came and was willing to give the two a ride. But then it tuned violent, because of Surd's mind control, and it tried to run them down, so to speak. Jonny made it to the surface, but Jessie had been separated from him, and she swam into the cavern to escape the whale. After that, she realized that she didn't have enough air to make it to the surface, so she sent us a signal that she was alive, using a piece of her wetsuit, which she stuffed into a plastic container that had been floating in a cavern. A few hours later, after Havel thwarted Surd's plan and destroyed the ship that he had been using as his base, Jonny swam down to meet Jessie."

"Wow," Estella remarked, stunned. "I remember you mentioning Surd to me. Wasn't he the one who kept trying to steal Quest World or change the programs?"

"The very same," Benton answered, grimly. "He attempted to make Quest World into a sort of horror theme park every time any one of us entered. But he won't be a problem anymore."

"Was he arrested?"

"You could say that," Race answered, a smile threatening the corners of his mouth.

"He's in a catatonic state, but he is in prison now," Benton elaborated for Race. "Jessie's responsible for that."

"She is? How?"

"Well, it's sort of a long story," Benton said, "but Surd managed to brainwash Jessie, and..."

"He what?" Estella's face became red with anger. "How'd he do that? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"It's okay, Stel," Race said, gently. "Normal brainwashing takes weeks, even months, but Surd managed to do it within only a few hours. Jessie had gone out to the movies, and when she returned, she was a crazed maniac. She tried to kill us, but then she passed out, and we realized that Surd had implanted an entirely different personality into Jessie's subconscious, which is why he was able to brainwash her in such a short amount of time. Benton and Jonny went into Quest World with Jessie, and they almost defeated Surd, but it was Jessie who finally turned the tables on Surd, overtaking the foreign personality and somehow sending him into the catatonic state that Surd was in, when the authorities found him. No one knows how she did it, and Jessie hasn't enlightened us."

"I...I don't know how to respond to that. To all of this." Estella said, lost for words.

"I'm going to get us some coffee," Benton said after a moment, hoping to ease the tension forming in that previously warm and soothing place. As he disappeared into the kitchen, Estella just shook her head. Finally she stood up and started pacing, before turning to her ex-husband and saying,

"Race, I've been doing some thinking lately." She sighed, gathering her strength of will, before continuing, "I think that Jessie should come and live with me. Clearly yours and Benton's lives are too dangerous, and I don't want you risking her life anymore." There. Everything that she had been considering over the past few hours had come pouring out of her like Niagara Falls, and although she had meant it at the time, she now felt a little guilty.

"What? Risking her life?" Race sputtered, his anger rising, as he, too, rose to his feet. "I haven't been risking her life. She knows the dangers of Benton's life, and I have taught her and the boys how to defend themselves. We cannot help it if maniacs decided to target this family, but we have the best security system in the world, and she is not safer in any other house than she is here." He had said all of that in almost one breath, and when he took a breath to continue, Estella grabbed a hold of that opportunity.

"You just said yourself that maniacs target this family. No matter how safe she is in this house, she is not safe outside, and you cannot watch her all the time! And have you forgotten that the last time I was in this 'safe house' large mechanical spiders burst through the walls and took Jessie, Jonny, and me halfway around the world? She would be much safer with me in Colombia, where criminals are not out to get her."

"Estella," Race closed his eyes, conjuring the strength to be rational. "We have been in some perilous situations, I agree. But no one is 'out to get' Jessie. Surd is no longer a threat, and neither are Zin or Rage..."

"But that doesn't mean that there aren't more people out there, who have a vendetta against you or Benton," Estella interrupted.

"I realize that, but Stel," Race said, his voice breaking. "Please don't do this. I can't convince you that Jessie will be one hundred percent safe every moment of every day. I can't even promise you that. But I love her. She means everything to me, and I would do anything to keep her safe. Don't you believe that?" She could see the hurt in his face and knew that he was telling the truth. She knew he was a good father. But she could not return to Colombia without Jessie and have peace of mind that she would be safe in Maine—or wherever the Quests traveled to next.

"I can't," Estella said, simply, tearing her eyes away from that handsome, but grief-stricken face. "She's been through too much. Let her have a normal life."

"Her school is here, Estella! All of her friends are here, as well as Jonny and

Hadji. You want her to change schools in the middle of her junior year, when she's been here since 7th grade?"

"She's been taken out of school every few months for the past four years!" Estella countered. "You never seemed that interested in her stability when you were taking her to Malaysia or Cambodia, or wherever else you've been! At least in Colombia, she'll be in school year round."

"Yeah, for the next year and a half, and then she'll leave for college. What are you trying to protect her from? The danger? Or me?" He let that question resound in the quiet room. Finally she answered,

"I can't help my feelings, Race. I want Jessie to come live with me. I'll talk to her about it tomorrow." And with that she turned and left the room, leaving Race standing in front of the fire, feeling numb. Benton walked in after a few moments and hesitantly said,

"I heard you two arguing, which is why I didn't come in sooner. If you don't want to talk, I'll understand, but if you do, I'll be in my study." As he was walking away, he heard Race say, almost soundlessly,

"Estella wants to take Jessie away from me."


	5. Tuesday, December 26

Tuesday, December 26th

Jessie awoke with a start that morning. She lay in bed awake, listening in vain for any sound. She felt depressed, but she didn't know why, at first. It was the day after Christmas; she should be happy. Her mother was still visiting...and then Jessie remembered why she was upset. As she sat up in bed, she sighed, remembering the conversation she had overheard the day before. Her parents had been arguing about her. Her mother had been trying to persuade her father that Jessie would be safer in Colombia with her.

Jessie shook her head and walked over to the window. She watched a group of Cardinals circling around the yard. They would land on the snow, searching for food, and then fly off again into the trees. The blizzard had left about ten inches of snow on the ground. But Jessie thought that it might as well have left two feet of snow. Jessie was still trapped in this house with feuding parents. No matter with which parent she chose to live, it would still cause a rift in her family. She couldn't deal with this anymore. She had to get away.

Before she could decide where to go, however, she heard a knock on her door. She yelled to the caller to come in, and was not surprised when it turned out to be Jonny and Hadji. Jessie knew that they had been concerned about her the previous night. Sure enough, Jonny said,

"Hadji and I are going skiing today. Why don't you come with us?"

"I don't really feel like skiing today," Jessie said, turning back to the window. She really just wanted to be alone.

"Jess, we can tell that you've been stressed out. You need to get out of this house."

"We will not take 'no' for an answer," Hadji added. Jessie sighed,

"All right!" She knew that they wouldn't give up. In a way she was glad that they were relentless. She would have turned them down and then spent the rest of the day sulking.

After she had dressed and found her skis in the hall closet, she met the boys downstairs. Race and Benton had left early. Benton had an appointment with an ambassador from Bangalore, the province of which Hadji was the rightful heir. At present, Hadji's mother was acting as royal regent until Hadji could finish high school in the States. Race had gone with Benton to keep him company—and safe. Estella, Jessie guessed, was still in bed—she enjoyed sleeping in while on vacation.

Jonny and Hadji each had on a black ski jacket and jeans with snow boots. Jessie, however, was wearing a white ski jacket with gray windbreaker pants. She had jeans on underneath, but she knew that after skiing down the slopes a few times, she would appreciate the extra layer. As she was braiding her long red hair, she said,

"By the way, where are we going? I don't want to go to someplace crowded. It's the day after Christmas. The ski resorts are going to be packed." Jonny was leaving a note for his father when he answered,

"I thought we could go to that abandoned ski lift on Briar Hill. Nobody's used it in years, and no one even knows that it works. Hadji and I discovered it last year, and figured out how to fix the ski lift. It has only one slope, but it's like our own private ski resort."

"All right," Jessie said. "Sounds like fun." The three teenagers arrived at Briar Hill about 11:30. They had stopped to have a quick lunch at a pizza parlor in the closest town before heading up the mountain, where they knew there would not be any food. When they reached the ski lift, Jonny disappeared into the operator's shed. A moment later, the lift came to life, and the three young people hopped on a chair to make their way toward the top of the hill.

Each of them was an excellent skier. Benton and Race had taught the boys to ski at an early age, and when Jessie came to live with them, she learned to love skiing as well. This would be the first time this winter that she had the chance to go skiing, and she was glad to be out on the slopes again. She hoped that this would take her mind off of her parents.

A few hours later, she was laughing with Hadji about the tumble that Jonny had taken on the hill. All three were pink-faced and out-of-breath, but they were having a great time. They slid off of the ski lift to make one last trip down the hill before heading home, when Jonny stopped suddenly and said,

"Hey, did you hear that?"

"What?' asked Hadji.

"I don't know. It sounded like a scream. Maybe someone's in trouble."

"Perhaps we should find out," Hadji said following Jonny toward the operator's shed at the top of the ski lift. The three teenagers left their skis inside and then headed toward the woods across from the top of the ski lift. The three of them walked for a good fifteen minutes without hearing anything. Jonny thought that maybe he had been hearing things and almost suggested that they turn around and go back, when he noticed a house through the trees. It appeared to be deserted, but Jonny pressed on. He was sure that this house was the source of the noise that he had heard. The three friends crept up to a window near the front door of what turned out to be more of a cabin than a house. Jonny peered through the icy window and saw three people sitting at an old wooden table in the middle of the room. He noticed Jessie and Hadji pushing in around him, straining to look through the window as well. They stood there in silence for a while trying to hear what the people inside were saying. The woman and man, who looked to be in their thirties, were questioning a younger man. Their conversation did not look friendly.

Suddenly Jonny heard footsteps approaching from behind him. He spun around to find two hulk-like men almost upon them. One man grabbed a hold of Jessie as Jonny lunged at the other, who shoved him to the ground. Hadji leaped at Jessie's attacker and managed to karate-kick him in the head. Jessie pulled away from his grasp, as the other attacker turned on Hadji. Before Jessie could run away, though, her attacker grabbed her braided hair. In a well-rehearsed action, Jessie immediately grabbed a hold of the man's hand, as he clutched her hair. She held his hand to the back of her head and instantly knelt down on her right knee, ducking her head against her chest and using her own weight to throw the man over her shoulder. He did not have time to react before he was already falling head first over this 17-year-old girl, and he could not stop his fall, because she still had a hold of his right hand. He fell flat on his back in the snow, releasing Jessie's hair, and before he could realize what had happened, Jessie was running toward the forest. She looked around quickly as she reached the tree line and saw that her attacker was quickly in pursuit of her. The people from inside the cabin must have heard the commotion, because the older man and the woman had come to the assistance of the other attacker. Among the three of them, they had managed to take Jonny and Hadji captive. Jessie increased her speed, which was not saying a lot, considering that she was running in ski boots in a foot of snow, and lost him through some evergreen trees. She huddled under a large pine tree, as she watched him pass by at a run and heard him crash through some more trees farther away. She remained in her hiding place, in the shadow of the tree until she could not hear him anymore. With her white coat on, she hoped that she blended into the snow, as she sat with her legs buried by the almost 12-inches of snow. It suddenly occurred to Jessie that she was lucky that her pursuer was so stupid. He should have realized that with the snow on the ground, he could have just followed her tracks and easily found her. Instead he had run right past the pine trees, where she was hiding, and kept going, thus making tracks of his own. In his blundering through the forest, there would be no way for him to tell which tracks were hers and which were his.

Jessie waited for over an hour, but did not hear the man pass by again. Perhaps he had gone deep into the forest looking for her, or maybe he had gone back to the cabin another way. She was becoming cold sitting there in the snow, even with all of her layers. Earlier she had tried calling the Quest Compound. The phone had rung three times before Dr. Quest's computer system IRIS had picked up.

_QUEST COMPOUND. HOW MAY I DIRECT YOUR CALL?_

"IRIS, this is Jessie. Is my dad there?"

_NEGATIVE. RACE BANNON IS UNAVAILABLE AT THE PRESENT TIME. WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEAVE A MESSAGE?_

"No," Jessie whispered into her cell phone. "I'll try his cell phone." Jessie disconnected and immediately dialed Race's cell phone. His voice mail picked up.

There was a lot of static on the line, but she left a message anyway.

"Dad! We're in trouble. We went skiing on Briar Hill and ran into some criminals. They've captured Jonny and Hadji, and I don't know what to do. I can't leave them here. I'm going to wait it out and see if I can get to them somehow. Please hurry." She didn't know how her dad would find them, even if he did get the message; they were in the middle of the woods. It was worth a try, though. She turned off the ringer on her cell phone so it would be on the vibrate mode. If her dad called back, it wouldn't give away her position.

That had been almost an hour ago, and her father had not yet returned her call. She decided to try her mom's cell.



Estella picked up on the second ring, since her cell was in her coat pocket. She had taken Jessie's car into town to do some errands. She was just leaving the Rockport public library, where she had borrowed some books for the rest of the week. She hated to sit around the house just watching TV, so she intended to do something productive.

"Oh hi, Jess," Estella said after noticing Jessie's name appear on the screen of the phone.

"Mom...(static)...skiing, and we...(static)...trouble."

"Jess, wait, I can't understand you. We must have a bad connection."

"Jon...Hadji are...(static)"

"Jess, are you there?" Estella practically shouted into the phone, but there was nothing but static now. She hung up and tried Jessie's phone number, but it gave a busy signal. As she pulled her car out of its parking spot, she thought about the phone call. She did not know where Jessie was, but she hoped that she was all right.



Jessie looked at the sky, which had grown darker as she had been hiding out. She still had not seen a sign of Jonny, Hadji, or their captors. Jessie had to do something. It would not be easy, but somehow she had to find out how Jonny and Hadji were doing. Jessie took a deep breath and moved out from behind the pine trees. She cautiously made her way toward the cabin. The late afternoon was quiet—not even a light breeze disturbed the silence—and she was sure not to make much noise as she walked through the snow.

As she neared the edge of the woods, she noticed three sets of footprints in the snow—the tracks that she and the guys and made earlier, when they first found the cabin. She hesitated; she had to think this through. She could try to follow one of those sets of footsteps, exactly, so that later if one of those men came out, he'd see the three sets leading to the cabin and not think twice about them. On the other hand, those footsteps led straight toward the front window of the cabin. She was not about to make the same mistake twice. At last she decided to keep to the woods and continue around to the back of the cabin. Then she could stake out the situation before deciding whether or not to approach the cabin.

The back of the cabin had only one window, and although a light had been coming from the front window, no light shown from this smaller one. With any luck, she thought, Jonny and Hadji were in the room with this back window. Since there was no light coming from that window, she figured it was probably separated from the main room in which those men were.

Despite the risk, she had to find out if her friends were in that room and if they were alive. She glanced around the cabin quickly and seeing no one, she dashed straight over to the solitary window. She crouched down next to the window and carefully looked through, in case someone was looking out the window at the same time. At first she could not see anyone in the room—just a small bed, but as her eyes focused more, through the dirty window, she saw Hadji sitting across from the window, right next to the door. He was tied to a chair, but he was conscious. She couldn't see Jonny. Quickly she glanced around her to make sure no one was around.

When she returned her gaze to the room, she noticed that Hadji was looking at her. He saw her! Then she realized that he was talking. Was he talking to her? She couldn't hear him, and she knew that he would not be stupid enough to shout to her, with all of those people in the next room. All of a sudden, though, she saw to whom he was talking. Right below the window, Jonny had edged his chair far enough away from the wall, so that he could see Jessie outside the window above him, and she could see him. She smiled at him and almost tried to open the window but thought better of it. If the people in the next room heard her, it would all be over.

Jonny seemed to read her mind. He shook his head and motioned to the door of the room. He knew it was not worth the risk. Jessie glanced around her again. The sky was even darker now, and before long, her visibility would be severely impaired. She could not risk anyone sneaking up on her. So she turned back to the window one last time and put her hand on the glass. In this one gesture she hoped that she conveyed not only her need to leave for the time being but also her concern for the two boys being held prisoner inside. She tore herself away from the window and rushed back to the safety of the woods.

She fought back the tears that were threatening to surface. She did not want to leave them, but she knew that they understood why she had to. She had accomplished what she had needed to by looking through that window. Now she knew that Jonny and Hadji were alive, and they knew that she was safe too. But she also knew that she could not return to the window. Not only would it be too risky to expose herself like that again, but also she needed to keep an eye on the front door (the only door to the cabin.) Now that it was getting dark, there was a good chance that some of the people would leave. She had to know who left and when.

Jessie made her way back to the front of the cabin, staying behind the trees as much as possible and virtually out of sight of the cabin. She returned to her place among the pine trees and waited. The sky grew darker still and the night colder. Jessie pulled her white hat out from inside her coat and pulled on her matching gloves. She looked at her cell phone, but there were no messages from her parents. There probably weren't many cell phone towers up there. She wished that she could send word to her parents of what had happened, but there was no way to get a hold of them from up there, and she couldn't leave. If she went back to the car, it would take at least half and hour to get there and another hour to drive home. By the time she returned with her parents and Dr. Quest, Jonny and Hadji could be dead or gone. If those men took them away, she would never know where unless she stayed and watched the cabin.

She cursed herself for not taking the communicator (an invention of Dr. Quest's that works like a cell phone, only with a video camera also, so the caller can view the person on the other side of the line.) But then again who would have thought that she would need to take it skiing? She doubted whether Jonny or Hadji had brought theirs either. All she could do now was wait—and watch.



Benton and Race arrived home about 5:30 PM. Benton expected to find a houseful of hungry people, and after enduring a stressful day filled with politics and negotiating, he was ready to suggest that they order pizza to be delivered. He entered the living room, with Race right behind him, and found Estella sitting in an armchair staring at a book, but not really reading it.

"How was your day, Estella?" Benton asked the redheaded woman, joining her on the couch. Race crossed the room to sit in his own chair, not really caring how Estella's day had gone. He was still angry about the previous night's argument and did not care to open the lines of communication with her just yet.

"Well," Estella began, getting right to the point, "Jessie called me on my cell phone earlier. I couldn't really understand her, because the connection was so bad, but I'm worried about her."

"The kids aren't here?" Benton asked, glancing at his watch. "Did they all go out together?"

"I don't know," Estella said, shaking her head. "They were all gone before I woke up this morning, but then I did get up sort of late." While she was talking, Benton stood up and walked over to the small table in the hall. The members of his family often left notes there for each other. Sure enough, a note in Jonny's handwriting lay there. Benton picked it up and read it, as he turned back toward the living room.

"It's from Jonny," he told his companions. "It says that they were going skiing, and that they would be back around 5:00. It doesn't mention where they were going skiing."

"Why on earth would they go skiing today?" Race finally spoke up. "On the day after Christmas, the ski resorts must be packed." Benton did not answer, but simply shook his head.

"Jessie called about two hours ago," Estella continued, as if no one else had spoken, "and she did mention Jonny and Hadji, but it sounded like they were all in trouble."

"Did she call the house?" Race asked, becoming concerned.

"Not while I've been here," Estella answered, rising from the couch to pace the room.

"IRIS," Benton said, urgently, "Did Jessie, Jonny, or Hadji leave a message while we were gone?"

_NEGATIVE_, said IRIS

"Damn," said Race. "IRIS, did any of them call while we were out?"

_YES_, said IRIS. _JESSIE BANNON CALLED AT 3:48 PM._

"She didn't leave a message," Race mused before saying, "IRIS, did she say anything else, like if she would call anyone else?"

_JESSIE BANNON SAID THAT SHE WOULD TRY CALLING RACE BANNON'S PHONE._

"Of course!" Race said, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. "I forgot that I had it. It's been off all day."

"Is there a message?" Estella asked, looking at him for the first time.

"Yes," he said, holding the phone to his ear. A few moments later, he shook his head and said, "I can't make out the message. There's too much static." He listened to the message again and said, "She said something about going skiing and trouble. Where would they have gone?"

"Well," said Benton, "There are only two ski resorts within two hours of here, but both would be packed today. I don't know why they would even bother going. Anyway, if one of them were injured, the medics would have alerted us. IRIS, are there any messages?"

_NEGATIVE_, replied IRIS.

"Maybe there was a bomb threat or something," Race said, standing up abruptly. "Something that would incapacitate the entire ski resort."

"I'll call both resorts," Benton said, heading toward the kitchen. Estella returned to her spot on the couch. Race began pacing. Five minutes later Benton returned to the living room. "Well, Deer Creek has not had any accidents or other problems today, and Ski Mountain reported an injury, but it wasn't Jessie or the boys. There aren't any other ski resorts within a few hours of here."

"Could they have gone to a park or someplace not really known for skiing?" asked Estella.

"Not those three," said Race. "They like the adventure. There aren't any big hills around here that are open to the public."

"What are we going to do?" asked Estella, her head in her hands.

"Wait!" said Race. "What about the tracking device on Jessie's cell phone?"

"It only works if her cell phone is on," Benton said, but he pushed some buttons on the keypad next to the security box on the wall. If Jessie's cell phone were on, then the grid under the keypad would have lit up and pinpointed Jessie's position according to how many miles from the Quest Compound she was and in which direction. But the keypad remained dark, and Benton sighed and turned back to Race and Estella. "Her cell phone must be turned off."

"What about the communicators?" Race said and dashed up the stairs. He returned a few minutes later holding three small, computerized boxes. "If we find those kids," he said, heatedly, "they are never going to leave this house again without their communicators." He sighed and joined Estella on the couch. No one spoke for a while until finally Benton said,

"Race, when you were listening to Jessie's message, could you hear pieces of words behind the static?"

"Yeah, a little. But I couldn't make out the words."

"I know," said Benton, "but IRIS may be able to. We could plug your cell phone into one of the computers and see if IRIS can filter out some of the static." IRIS was the force behind Quest World, which could only be accessed from the lab computers in the lighthouse, but any computer in the compound could access IRIS.

"That's a great idea," Race exclaimed, and he led the way to the computer in Benton's study. Benton hooked Race's phone up to the computer and typed in a few commands before leaning back in his chair to wait. A voice pattern showed up on the monitor and above it the word "ENHANCING" blinked on and off. A few moments later, "ENHANCING" blinked off and an image of a play button popped up in its place. Benton placed his hand on the mouse to move the cursor over the play button and left clicked on it. Immediately the message began and Jessie's voice filled the room:

"Dad! (static) trouble. We went skiing (static) criminals. They've (static) Jonny and Hadj...(static) to do. (static) can't leave (static) to wait it out and (static) to them somehow. Please hurry."

"We'll have to enhance it some more," Benton said, and he typed in some more commands. The enhancing process began again. Several minutes later the message once again filled the room, but it still wasn't much better. "I'll give it an hour or so," said Benton. "It'll probably take awhile." Race stood up and left the room. Benton followed a couple of minutes later. He could tell that Race was worried about Jessie, but Benton could not help but feel like his sons were in more trouble than Jessie. She was the one who made the phone call, so she must be in a better position than the boys. Benton did not return to the living room with Race and Estella, but ascended the stairs to his room instead. He needed time alone to think. With all of the times that his family had been in danger, he always had a feeling that they would make it through. But in most of those situations, either he or Race knew where the kids were. Now he had no idea where they were or what had happened to them. He hated feeling this helpless.

Race sat on the couch in the living room, his head in his hands. His ex-wife stood staring out of the window. How had things gotten so messed up, he thought to himself. When Jessie came to live with him and the Quests, he just sort of assumed that she would always stay with him. After his argument with Estella the previous night, he wasn't so sure that everything would work out. Estella wanted Jessie to go live with her again. She thought that life with the Quests was too dangerous for Jessie. Well, this situation sure was not helping. Jessie and the boys were missing, presumed in trouble, and Benton and he didn't know how to find them. If they found the kids, Estella would take Jessie away, and Race would never see her again. He knew that he was overreacting, but the situation seemed so hopeless.

He did not know how long he had been sitting there, when Benton placed a hand on his shoulder and said,

"IRIS just told me that she has deciphered as much of the message as she can." Race and Estella immediately followed Benton into his study. The voice pattern had again appeared on the monitor, and Benton sat down at the console to hit the play button icon. Race and Estella pushed in toward the monitor to listen to the message."Dad! We're in trouble. We went skiing (static) ran into some criminals. They've captured Jonny and Hadji (static) don't know what to do. I can't leave them here. I'm going to wait it out and see if I can get to them somehow. Please hurry."


	6. Wednesday, December 27

Wednesday, December 27th—The Longest Day

Jessie woke with a start. She glanced at her watch, which said 3:10 AM. She must have been asleep for several hours. She turned around in her place under the pine trees to look at the cabin. It was quiet. Earlier that evening, after she had returned to her hiding place from checking on Jonny and Hadji, she watched three of the people from the cabin leave: the youngest man, the woman, and one of the hulky men. The other two men stayed in the cabin, and Jessie was sure that they were still there. She had a feeling that originally the criminals had not intended to stay overnight—that they had only come to talk over whatever they were planning. But now they had prisoners, and since they knew that Jessie was still out there, they could not risk leaving Jonny and Hadji there, unguarded.

Even though there were only two men still left on guard, Jessie knew she could not take them, which is why she had remained in hiding. She had been planning on waiting until early morning to sneak up on the cabin. By that time the men would probably have dozed off, and she would at least have a chance of rescuing Jonny and Hadji. She stood up and stretched her legs. If she were going to approach the cabin, this would probably be the best time to do so.

She made her way to the edge of the forest and was about to step out into the open, when she noticed someone approaching from the left. She remained in the shadow of the trees and watched him. She could not decipher his features at first, but as he moved closer to the front window of the cabin, she realized that he was the young man who had been there earlier. Who was he, and why was he sneaking around in the middle of the night?

He moved up to the window, and peered through. This was her chance; she had to move quickly. If those men inside were asleep, and he knocked on the door and woke them up, she might never have this chance again. She strode purposefully but silently toward the man, as she pulled her pocketknife out of her coat. She clutched it in her right hand as she neared him, and coming up to him, on tiptoes, she immediately shoved the handle of the pocketknife into his back and said in a low voice,

"Freeze." He complied and inhaled in an attempt to speak, but she cut him off. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"My name is Scott Barnes. I'm not one of them. I saw you run away earlier. I'm trying to help your friends."

"How do I know you're not one of them," Jessie hissed at him, pushing the knife handle farther into his back." The young man flinched and took another breath.

"They kidnapped my father, Dr. Joseph Barnes. He invented a solution that they want, and they contacted me three days ago saying that they would kill my father if I didn't get the solution for them within five days. I had agreed to meet with them earlier today to tell them how it's coming, but I haven't been able to replicate the solution yet. My father shipped it off to California last week. I came back tonight to help your friends." He paused, and Jessie did not respond right away, as she gathered her thoughts. She did not know whether or not to believe him.

"Look," he said, turning his head slightly as if to try to see her out of the corner of his eye. "Those guys in there are asleep. Now would be the best time to get your friends out. I'll stand watch here, and you can go to the back window and get your friends out. If these two wake up, I'll knock on the door to distract them." Jessie almost rejected his plan entirely. She didn't know this guy; what if it was a trap? But there was no alternative. If she waited here as the lookout and sent Scott to rescue Jonny and Hadji, they might not trust him. And what would she do to distract the two guards inside? Furthermore, if Scott were lying about his involvement with these criminals, then he'd still be able to alert the bad guys from the back of the cabin. Jessie had to trust him. She had no choice. She and Scott could not take these two men with her pocketknife. So she removed the knife handle from his back and quickly returned it to her pocket.

"All right," said Jessie. "We'll meet you by the lake at the edge of the forest." She did not wait for an answer but ran toward the back of the cabin. As she rounded the corner, she stopped suddenly and peered back around the corner. Scott had returned to his position at the window. Something inside of Jessie told her that she could trust this man, so she turned around and hurried to the back window. She knelt down in the snow and gazed into the window, but the room was completely dark, so she could not see a thing. She knocked quietly on the window, not wanting to make too much noise and alert the bad guys. She waited a moment, but received no indication that Jonny or Hadji had heard her, so she knocked more loudly. Almost instantly a tiny light came on inside the room. Jessie knew that it must have been Jonny's Maglight, which he always had with him. She could barely make out his features in the light, but it was enough to know that he had managed to move his chair across the room from the window to sit next to Hadji near the door to the room. This was no small feat, either, because Jonny and Hadji's legs were tied to the legs of their chairs.

Jonny shifted the beam of his flashlight to the window, so he could see who was outside, but it probably only reflected off of the glass. Jessie was not sure how she would open the window. The window was one square pane of glass and seemed to open on the left side as she faced the window. She pushed firmly on the windowpane and was pleased to discover that the window frame gave way a little. If she applied enough pressure, she should be able to snap the lock on the window. She hoped that this would not make too much noise, but if it did, hopefully Scott would be able to convince those creeps that he had made the sound.

Without another thought, she backed up a few inches and then, by rocking forward on her knees, she lunged at the window and hit it with both hands. It gave way instantly and flew open. By some grace of God, the glass did not shatter, although it did crack slightly. Jessie lowered herself through the window and landed gently on the wooden floor. Then she rushed over to Jonny to untie him.

"Are you two all right? Did they hurt you"

"No," said Jonny, "we're fine. What happened to you? Where've you been?" Jessie explained about running away from the attackers and hiding for hours. She told them about the three people leaving and then about Scott returning.

"Are you sure that we can trust him?" Hadji asked Jessie, as he stretched his legs.

"I wasn't at first," Jessie replied, pulling one of the chairs over to the window. "But I really didn't have a choice. A lookout is a great ally. I didn't want those men to burst in here while we were all here." She stood on the chair and lifted herself out of the window. She looked around as she pulled her gloves on, searching for any sign of somebody watching. Jonny and Hadji pulled themselves up through the window, and the three of them ran down toward the lake. As they rounded the house and came in view of the front door, Jessie saw that Scott was talking with someone at the door. She, Jonny, and Hadji must have made too much noise in the cabin.

She continued toward the lake right behind the boys and joined them behind some trees. While they waited for Scott, Jonny and Hadji filled Jessie in on what they had overheard from conversations through the wall. The conversations confirmed Scott's story about his father.

"They wanted him to bring the solution tonight," said Jonny, "but he said that he wasn't able to get a replication of the formula yet."

"They were very upset," said Hadji. "They threatened to kill his father. He seems to be trying to buy himself time, but they told him that he has only two days left."

"We have to help him somehow," said Jessie. "Maybe Dr. Quest knows his father, Dr. Barnes."

"I've never heard of him, but maybe," said Jonny. "Hey, did you call home? Our parents must be freaking out."

"I tried, but no one was home, and there was too much static when I called my parents. Oh no!" she suddenly searched her pockets frantically.

"What's wrong?" asked Jonny.

"Oh," Jessie moaned. "I turned off my phone by mistake. I wondered why no one called me back." She turned the phone back on. "Well, there aren't any messages. I'll try calling again." It was then that Scott came running up.

"I saw them waking up, so I knocked on the door to distract them," he said, a little breathlessly. "I told them that I came back here because I had to go out of town to get the ingredients for the formula, so they wouldn't be able to reach me at the lab. I think they were suspicious, so we should get out of here quick." Jessie was just putting her phone away, as she said,

"I told my dad where we are and that we'll be home soon. I didn't really have time to tell him what happened, but we can tell him later. I did mention that you're coming with us, Scott."

"Well, let's get a move on," Jonny said, motioning toward the ski slopes from which they had journeyed so many hours before. He turned to Scott and said, "I'm Jonny, by the way. This is Hadji," and motioning to his right, "and Jessie." The two shook hands; Scott nodded to Hadji and Jessie, and they started toward the ski slope.

"I didn't know there was anything in this direction," Scott remarked. "I parked on the other side of the lake along the main road. By the way, Jessie, that was a nice trick trying to make me think your pocket knife was a gun." Jessie didn't have a chance to ask him how he knew that she did not really have a gun, because suddenly the door to the cabin burst open, and the two men dashed out. One of them pointed toward where the four teenagers had stopped short, and the two started running toward them.

"Come on," Jonny shouted, turning around and heading for the frozen lake. Without thinking twice, he stepped on the ice and moved as quickly as he could on ice with ski boots. Jessie, Hadji, and Scott followed suit. Halfway across the lake, still moving quickly, Jessie turned to look behind her. It had begun snowing; the sky was so overcast that there was no light to speak of, except for the tiny bounding lights of their pursuers' flashlights.

Jessie continued across the ice following the boys, when suddenly she heard the ice creak and before she could do anything else, the ice under her crumbled and she fell through. She uttered a scream of surprise as she felt the shock of icy water penetrate her heavy clothes. Luckily she was able to grab a hold of the solid ice to prevent her head from going under, and she struggled to find a grip on the ice.

She heard a rush of voices approaching and knew that it must have been her friends hurrying to her rescue. Jonny confirmed her assumption as he said,

"Jess, we're coming! Are you all right?"

"Uh, well not r-really," Jessie gasped. "I'm s-so c-cold."

"Take my hand," Scott said, reaching her first. Jessie grabbed his right hand with her left, still grasping at the ice with her right hand. Scott caught her right hand too, but he could not pull her out of the water from his position lying on his stomach on the ice. She saw Jonny and Hadji grab Scott's feet to pull him and Jessie away from the water, but by then, the two bad guys had caught up. The older man pulled out a gun and said,

"Freeze," which Jessie thought was an ironic choice of words. The man gestured with the gun to Jonny and Hadji. "All right, you two move away. Go!" Jonny and Hadji stood up slowly and took a few steps backwards, keeping their arms at their sides.

"We have to help her," Jonny said, glancing quickly at Jessie, but then returning his attention to the gun.

"Shut up!" said the older man. But he did seem concerned about Jessie's predicament. Jessie figured that he had not intended for things to go this far. "All right," the man said to no one in particular. After a moment, he pointed to his younger, stronger partner, "You and Barnes help the girl." Then shifting his attention back to Jonny and Hadji, who had been inching their way closer to Scott and Jessie, he said,

"Back away! Don't think that I won't shoot you. I don't need you for anything." The two teenagers backed away again. Jessie could feel her feet and legs going numb. She was now thoroughly soaked, and as the muscular man who had assaulted her earlier that night took hold of her left hand, she realized that she did not care. She wanted only to get out of this frigid water. The two men managed to pull her out of the water and as she gained her footing on solid ice, she clung to Scott for support. She hardly knew this man, but she trusted him anyway and prayed to God that the older men would not argue with this decision.

For a moment no one spoke as the teenagers wondered what was going to happen, and the bad guys decided what to do next. Finally the older man said,

"All right, Joey," and he looked at his partner, but kept the gun trained on Jonny and Hadji. "Call the boss and tell him to meet us at the van. We're gonna have to take these kids somewhere else." Then, as Joey pulled out his cell phone and dialed in some numbers, the older man said, "You three, get moving." He motioned toward the woods, where they had been heading before, while running away from the cabin. "The girl can stay with me." He grabbed Jessie's arm and yanked her away from Scott. She lost her balance and almost fell, but managed to regain her footing. Scott attempted to protest, but the man pointed the gun at him and said, through gritted teeth, "Don't even think about it. Now move."

Scott joined Jonny and Hadji, who hesitated before turning toward the woods. Jessie swallowed hard, her heart in her stomach. She was shivering almost uncontrollably, but she refused to allow her captor to see her fear. She was still with her friends; they would find a way out. When Joey turned off his cell phone, he took over walking with Jessie. The six of them walked through the forest for what seemed like hours, and every now and then Joey would glance at Jessie and smirk as though trying to figure out how he could get her all alone.

Jessie shuddered at the thought. She was in no position to fight this leering pervert, as she stumbled through the snow in ski boots, becoming colder and dizzier with every passing minute. But one thought did comfort her: when she and the guys did not arrive home in an hour or so, at least her dad would know where to start searching...



"Oh, thank God!" Estella said, falling into an armchair and laughing. Race had just hung up the phone after speaking with Jessie.

"They should be home in a little over an hour," Race said. "They went to that abandoned ski resort off of Route 3. I didn't think it was even operational."

"I'm sure those three found a way around that," Benton said, sighing, but smiling. "Did Jessie say what happen to them?"

"She didn't say much—only that Jonny and Hadji had been captured by a couple of maniacs, but that she rescued them with the help of a Scott Barnes, who father was kidnapped by these creeps. They're bringing Scott back here with them."

"I swear," Benton shook his head, "Those kids must look for trouble. We're going to have to have a long talk with them when they get back." He stopped talking and followed Race's gaze toward Estella, who had fallen asleep in the armchair.

"I guess all of the stress finally caught up to her. It is 5:00 in the morning," Race said, glancing at his watch.

"Why don't we go get some coffee in the kitchen and let her sleep," Benton whispered, placing a hand on Race's shoulder.



Jonny, Hadji, Scott, and Jessie emerged from the forest followed by their captors to find a large white van parked in front of a red Honda Civic. Jessie heard Scott whisper to the guys that the car was his. She knew that this road must be the one that wound its way up the mountain and led to the ski slopes, on which only twelve hours ago she and the boys had been skiing. It seemed like ages ago that she had been worried about her parents fighting over custody of her. Now she wondered if she would ever see them again. She shivered as she continued toward the van with the group. Jonny could not stay quiet any longer. He stopped walking, motioned toward Jessie, and said,

"You can't leave her like that. She'll freeze to death."

"Shut up!" Joey shouted, flexing his muscles. But his partner holding the gun seemed doubtful. After a moment he said,

"Joey, there are some clothes in the van we can give her." Joey pulled Jessie toward the van, and she struggled to maintain her balance. Inside the van, which had lit up when Joey had opened the back double doors, she watched Joey searching around for some spare clothes and thought that she would never be warm again. Her feet were tingling, her socks soggy in the icy water that had filled her boots. Even though her head had not been submerged in the water, the bottom half of her hair was soaked and was quickly collecting ice crystals.

Joey came out of the clutter holding a gray sweatshirt and darker sweat pants. He shoved them at her and then headed for the doors of the van. She turned away from him and unzipped her now ice-laden coat, but hesitated before taking it off. As she placed the coat on the floor, she heard him breathing behind her, and she knew that he was watching. Just as she was deciding if she could pull the sweatshirt over her head before taking off her wet clothes, she heard him approaching her again. His breath was on her neck for only a second, when she whipped around and slashed him across the face with her long nails. He let out a cry followed by a growl, and then he rounded on her. She quickly threw her soaked coat at him, which he caught out of surprise, and Jessie took the opportunity of his hands being distracted to kick his closest knee with the hard edge of her ski boot. He stumbled to the ground, just as the older man with the gun shouted,

"Joey, what's going on in there? Get out here now!" Joey pushed himself to his feet and scowled at Jessie before limping toward the back doors, groaning as he went. Jessie hurriedly removed the boots from her sore feet and changed into the dry clothes, while listening to the two men argue.

"She kicked me...scratched my face. Look, it's bleeding."

"Oh, don't be a baby."

Jessie sat down on the floor, not being able to stand any longer. The fight had taken her last strength. She shivered uncontrollably, still not any warmer than she had been while wearing the icy clothes. Her vision was blurred, and she did not think that she would be able to make it to the door of the van if she tried. As she sat, waiting for the others to come, she untied her braid and let her long, wet hair fall naturally, hoping that it would dry more quickly not being braided.

A moment later, the two criminals came into view, herding the teenagers toward the van. They entered quickly and joined Jessie at the back of the van.

"What are we going to do to them, Steve?" Joey asked his partner, still pawing at his bleeding face.

"Find something we can use to tie them up," Steve said, keeping a careful aim at the group. Jonny and Hadji crouched down, and quickly wrapped their arms around Jessie, in an attempt to warm her up a little. Hadji immediately removed his coat and gave it to Jessie who took it without question. Jonny motioned toward Joey and whispered,

"Nice job, Jess. He didn't hurt you did he?"

"N-no, I'm f-fine," she whispered back. Steve was watching them, but he seemed distracted, like he was making this up as he went along. Jessie was sure that he did not intend to hurt them. That may work to their benefit later on.

When Joey stood up again after searching the piles of paraphernalia on the floor of the van, he held only a few ties and old ragged shirts. Jessie had a feeling that these men must have been living out of this van.

"We can use their scarves too," said Joey.

"Yeah, good idea," Steve replied. Then directing his attention to the young people, he said, "Give me your scarves." Jonny, Jessie, and Hadji glanced at each other, then the two boys pulled their scarves off, and Jessie found hers inside her coat on the floor. It was still soaked and freezing. Scott was not wearing a scarf, so he stood there, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, looking displaced.

Steve then ordered Joey to tie up each of the teenagers, one at a time, while the others stood at a distance. Joey used the scarves on their ankles, using his own to tie Jessie's. Scott's ankles were tied with Jessie's water-laden scarf, and she pitied him for that. Joey then used the neckties to tie their wrists behind their backs, and then he tore the tee shirts to shreds to use as gags. By the time he had finished, the light snow had stopped falling. Jessie knew that her parents must be going nuts by now, knowing that she and the boys should have been back by then.

The men exited the van, leaving the four teenagers alone. Jessie sat between Hadji and Scott; Jonny on the other side of Hadji. Jessie still shivered in the darkness of the van. Even with the doors closed, blocking out the deathly wind, the temperature inside could not have been above 30 degrees Fahrenheit, having been parked along that road for at least 12 hours. Her feet were bare on the carpeted floor, but she figured that it was better than wearing wet socks. Hadji had managed to pull off his fleece gloves, and he handed them to Jessie, behind his back. She put them on pretty easily, but she knew that she would need move covering, if she wanted to live to see tomorrow.

She moved quickly, in case Steve or Joey came back. Pushing against the wall behind her, she used her hands to push herself onto her feet, wobbling for an instant, but then forcing herself to remain steady. Then she hopped over to the pile of clothes on the other side of the van. The boys looked at her in amazement. Jessie did not wait for things to happen. When she knew what she wanted, she sought it out. She made things happen. She found some random socks on the floor, but she didn't think that she would be able to put them on. Then she found what she was looking for. It was a worn utility blanket, but it would do. As she crouched down to pick it up, she decided to take the sweatshirt lying next to it also. She hopped back to her place between

Scott and Hadji, and as she sat down again, she placed the sweatshirt where her feet would be. Then settling back against the wall, she buried her feet in the sweatshirt, which was as cold as her feet, but she was sure that it would warm up eventually. She was not sure that she would be able to get the blanket around herself, but Scott seemed to read her mind. He turned his back to her and offered his hands to help. She pushed the blanket to him, and he picked it up. Then he placed it on her legs and tried to find the corners. Hadji caught on to his plan and used his hands to spread the blanket out on his side of Jessie. Between the two of them, they managed to spread the blanket across her legs. She even pulled her knees close to her body, so that the blanket covered her shoulders, legs, and feet, which were still buried in the sweatshirt.

Jessie turned to Scott and smiled, but she was not sure if he could tell. Then she leaned her head on Hadji's shoulder, scooting closer to him for warmth. A few moments later they heard a vehicle drive up and park, and then voices passed by the van. Less than a minute later the front doors to the van opened, and two men climbed in. Jessie could not tell who it was; a wall with a door in it separated the front seats from the back of the van. Someone started the engine, and the van pulled onto the road. Jessie's heart was beating wildly. They had no idea where they were going. How would anyone find them?

Jonny was concerned about their situation. Jessie was not doing too well, and even though the heating system in the van had kicked on as it had pulled onto the main road, he knew that she needed to get to a warmer place soon. He had been wrestling with the tie around his wrists, but it was no use; it was tied too tightly. He leaned his head against the wall behind him and sighed. This is really bad, he thought to himself. Their parents didn't know where they were. Jonny didn't even know where they were being taken.

He glanced over at the other three captives—his friends. Hadji looked like he was meditating, and Jonny was not sure if he was trying to relax because of their stressful circumstances or so that he could relax his body enough to loosen his bonds. Hadji was a yogi, which meant that he practiced the art of yoga. In the past he had been known to be able to relax his body enough to slide right out of a chair that he was tied to. Jonny also had benefited from practicing yoga with Hadji.

He started fidgeting again. The gag was annoying him, but he did not want to take it off in case the bad guys freaked out about it. They might realize that Jonny and his friends were more resourceful than Frank and Joey had anticipated and then put them in an even worse situation. It was better to look weaker than he was, but he did wish that he could at least untie his hands.

Jessie on the other hand did not look like she was doing well. She was asleep against Hadji's shoulder, but her thin face was as white as a sheet, and she was shivering even under the blanket. Jonny knew that he had to get her some help soon.

After over an hour, the van finally slowed down and turned a corner. They were almost at their destination, and Jonny did not want to think about where that would be or what was in store for them. He had been hesitant during this journey to untie his hands, just in case one of the captors should come back there to check on the teenagers. Jonny was not about to attack the driver and risk crashing this van and endangering the lives of his friends. Besides, the driver might have a gun. On the other hand, he knew that it was foolish to just sit there, tied up, and wait for their fate. It was then that he realized that they would have to get out now. And along with that realization came an idea, which he could not believe that he had not thought of previously. The four of them were now friends—they were in this together. Yet they were each trying by themselves to escape.

What they needed to do was work together.

He started elbowing Hadji and brought him out of his trance. Hadji looked at Jonny questioningly, but Jonny was not sure how he would communicate to Hadji what he was thinking. Finally, he sighed and decided to remove the gag after all. He rubbed his face against the wall and managed to work the gag away from his mouth.

"Hadj, help me get my hands untied. We're almost there." Hadji followed Jonny's lead and removed his own gag before turning to help Jonny.

"I have been trying to loosen this tie, but I cannot." As he turned, Jessie's head fell, but she awakened and caught herself. She was still freezing, and she instinctively tried to wrap her arms around herself, but then remembered that they were tied behind her back. She moaned and turned her head to her right to look at Hadji and Jonny who were working feverishly to untie each other's hands. She glanced over at Scott, who had his eyes closed. She was not sure if he was asleep or not, so she just stared straight ahead at the wall across from her. She felt drained, like she could not conjure any strength if her life depended on it. Hadji finally managed to loosen the tie around Jonny's wrist enough for him to get out.

"Awesome," Jonny whispered as he turned to untie Hadji's hands. Within seconds the two of them were free and moved to help Jessie and Scott.

"What do we do now?" Scott asked, gratefully rubbing his sore wrists. The van was slowing to make another turn, and he placed his hands on the floor to keep from falling into Jessie, who was clutching the blanket around her.

"I thought about jumping out of the back of the van at a stop light," said Jonny, "but we need to know where these guys are going—where their hideout is—so we can report them."

"Why do we not wait until we are almost there," Hadji said, pacing the floor. "We will be able to tell, because the van will slow down excessively. Then we will jump out and follow them at a distance to see where they go."

"That's a good idea," said Jonny. "Well, let's get ready, so we can jump right out when we need to." The boys retrieved their scarves from where they had dropped them on the floor. Jessie crawled over to the pile of clothes. She could not find any gloves or a scarf, but she did find some woolen socks, which she immediately pulled onto her feet, and a long sleeved shirt. She made Jonny, Hadji, and Scott turn around so she could put the shirt on under the sweatshirt that she had been wearing. Jessie traded Hadji's coat for

Jonny's, since Jonny was wearing a warm fleece shirt, and Hadji was wearing little more than a tee shirt. Also, Jessie kept Hadji's gloves, and she was able to wear her own white hat, that had not gotten wet in the lake. She had laid out her wind breaker pants, when she had changed out of her wet clothes. She had guessed right in thinking that their captors would not notice, and now she looked to see if the pants were dry enough to wear over the sweatpants. They were, and she smiled to herself at her cleverness as she pulled them on. She did not, however, want to leave her coat and clothes behind, and luckily she found an old worn backpack in the clutter, so she stuffed her belongings into that. There was also room for her ski boots, which she could not wear, because the material inside was still wet.

They were ready to leave, and decided to get out the next time that the van stopped, whether or not they were at their destination, because they could not risk one of those men coming back to check on them, and they also did not know if they would be able to escape from wherever they were going without being seen.

Jessie sat down, while they were waiting, still feeling weak from the cold, but also from hunger. After a few minutes, though, the van slowed to a stop. Jonny quickly opened the door and jumped out of the van. He was in the middle of the street; he glanced around the van and saw a traffic light ahead.

"All right, hurry up!" he whispered, motioning for his friends to join him. As they jumped out of the van, Jessie grabbed onto Hadji for support, and Jonny cautiously closed the back doors to the van. Scott was about to suggest that they make a run for it, but Jonny piped up,

"Let's wait here for a minute until they get down the road a little, so they don't see us out of the side mirrors."

"Jonny," Hadji said, "we should follow the van to find out where it goes. You stay here with Jessie. I will go with Scott..."

"No way," Jonny interrupted. "I can run faster. Scott and I can go..."

"Oh, shut up," Jessie said. "You two go together. I'll stay here with Scott."

"Are you sure," Jonny lowered his voice and pulled her aside. "We barely know this guy."

"I trust him, Jonny. He was kidnapped too, you know."

"You guys," Scott said. "The van's leaving."

"Get going!" Jessie said, pushing Jonny away from her. We'll meet you here later. Go!" Jonny did not reply, but followed Hadji at a run down the street. Scott picked Jessie up and carried her to the side of the road, and they watched Jonny and Hadji disappear around a corner a block away.

Scott carried Jessie to a bench on the sidewalk, and the two sat down. Jessie looked at her watch. It was barely 7:00. It was no wonder that the streets were so deserted. Scott looked at her, concerned—her face was so pale. He needed to get her warm soon.

"I'm going to see if I can find an open store. Coffee shops usually open pretty early. Will you be okay alone here?

"Sure," said Jessie, "Go ahead." She watched him hurry down the street toward the line of stores. She wasn't sure why she trusted him, or why she liked him so much. She had not noticed until now how good looking he was. He had short jet-black curly hair and perfect skin. He was not too tall, maybe 5'10, but he had broad shoulders and looked like he worked out a lot. Jessie sighed and rubbed her gloved hands together vigorously, as she dangled her socked feet above the ice sidewalk. As she exhaled, she could see her breath materialize before her. She hoped that Scott returned soon. She had to call home also. Suddenly it occurred to her that her cell phone might not work after being submerged in icy water. She frantically searched inside the backpack for her coat pockets. She found her cell phone and tried to turn it on, but it was no use. The cell phone was too waterlogged.

"Damn," she muttered and shook her head, as she returned the cell phone to the backpack. Just then Scott hurried up to her and said,

"I found a little bagel shop up the road that just opened. We can rest in there and warm up. Do you have any money for hot chocolate or something? You should have something to eat."

"Yeah," Jessie replied, searching her bag again. She was glad that she had decided to bring some money with her the previous day. Finally she retrieved $15 from her jeans pockets and stood up to join Scott. The sudden movement made her dizzy, though, and

he would have collapsed, but Scott caught her.

"It's okay," he said, soothingly. "I'll carry you. There's no one around to see." He took her in his arms and set off for the bagel shop.

"I'm sorry," Jessie said, feeling pretty ashamed at being so weak. "I hit my head on some ice a few days ago, and now...after falling in freezing water..."

"I understand," Scott said. "Don't worry about it. We'll get you some help soon.

"I don't have any shoes on," she said. And then realizing the absurdity of that random statement, she continued, "They might not let me into the café."

"Well, let's just hope that they don't notice. You have a winter coat and ski pants on. They'll probably just assume that you have shoes on and not even look." By that time they had reached the door to the shop. Scott set Jessie down on her feet and said,

"Do you think that you can walk from here?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, smiling, and she pushed opened the door to the Bagel Bonanza. She felt a rush of warm air as she and Scott entered the building, and Jessie breathed a sigh of relief.

The two walked up to the counter, where a teenaged girl with long blond hair stood waiting to take their order. She smiled, showing pearly-white teeth accentuated by red lip stick, and said,

"Hi. How can I help you?" Jessie responded,

"Um, I'll have a cranberry-orange muffin and a large hot chocolate." She turned to Scott, "Did you want anything? I'm paying."

"Oh, well thanks," he replied. Then studying the menu, he said, "I'll have an everything bagel with cream cheese and a medium coffee." The girl, probably about Jessie's age, bustled around filling their order. Scott turned to Jessie and said,

"You stay here and warm up. I'm gonna call for help and watch for Jonny and Hadji. Do you have any way of calling your parents?"

"My cell phone is dead, but we have an 800 number to call collect. I'll write it down for you." The girl came back to the counter then with their order. Jessie gave her a ten dollar bill, and while waiting for change, she said, "We're kind of lost. Could you tell us the name of the nearest big town or city, so we can get some perspective?"

"Oh, of course," she responded. "Well, this town is Frankford, but if you go up the road that way (she pointed right) and make the first left, keep driving for about twenty minutes, and you'll come to Keedysville. That's the biggest landmark around, because they have a winter festival every year. People drive from all over the state for that." She gave Jessie her change. "Where are you headed?"

"We're going home toward Bangor," Jessie said, smiling. "We just got a little sidetracked."

"Well, make sure you stay warm," the girl said. "It's pretty cold out."

"Thanks," Jessie replied, and she and Scott brought their food and drinks to a little table in the corner, by a window facing the street. "Here's the phone number," Jessie said, handing Scott her receipt, on the back of which she had written the number for the Quest Compound. "You can ask for either Dr. Quest, who's Jonny and Hadji's father, or my parents, Race and Estella Bannon."

"You all live together?" Scott asked, shocked.

"Well, it's a long story. I'll tell you when you get back."



Scott dialed the 800 number from a pay phone in front of the Frankford Diner, which had not yet opened. The phone rang twice before a female voice answered.

"Jessie? Is that you?"

"Is this Mrs. Bannon?"

"Uh, yes," her voice wobbled. She sniffed before continuing, "Who is this?"

"My name is Scott Barnes. I was with your daughter, Jessie this morning when she called you to say that she was coming home. I helped her save her friends, Jonny and Hadji."

"Where is she?" Estella said, urgently. "Why are you calling me instead of her?"

"Right after she called you, the bad guys caught up to us. We tried to escape by running across a frozen lake, but Jessie fell through the ice."

"Oh, my God!" said Estella, and she began sobbing.

"She's all right, Mrs. Bannon. I pulled her out. She's okay. But then we were kidnapped and taken over an hour away. We escaped only a few minutes ago, when the four of us jumped out of the back of the van that we had been in. Jonny and Hadji ran after the van to find out where the kidnappers are going. I left Jessie in a coffee shop to warm up. She's still really cold, but she's getting better. But we have no means of getting home. Our cars are still at that ski resort."

"I'll call Jessie's father. He and Benton went to the ski resort to find Jessie and the boys."

"Okay. Tell him that we're in Frankford, about 20 minutes north of Keedysville."

"All right, Scott. Thank you for calling and take care of Jessie, okay?" The line disconnected before Scott could respond. He hung up, and having no one else that he knew of to contact, he returned to the bagel shop.



Benton and Race had arrived at the abandoned resort over half an hour earlier. They immediately noticed Hadji's car in the otherwise empty parking lot, and they hurriedly marched through the snow toward the fully operational ski lift, which had been left on. Benton thought, as he and Race took the ski lift up the hill, that he did not want to guess at what the electricity bill would be for running an abandoned ski lift all night. He also thought that he knew who would have to foot the bill.

When Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji did not arrive home after an hour and a half of when they had called home, Race and Benton had become concerned. They had tried calling Jessie's cell phone, but there had been no answer—not even voice mail. They decided immediately to drive up to the ski resort, but when Estella said that she wanted to go too, they told her that she should stay behind in case one of the kids called. She was not happy, but she complied, just in case.

Race had not heard from Estella, though, and he was beginning to get frantic. He and Benton hopped off of the ski lift, when it reached the top of the hill. The snow at the summit was matted in places, and ski tracks were apparent even since the recent snowfall.

"Well, the kids were definitely here," said Race. It was difficult to tell in which direction they had last gone, but the two men wandered around the clearing anyway, looking for any sign of a scuffle. Benton walked around the control shed and happened to notice through the window a pile of skis lying on the floor.

"Hey Race, look at this," he called to his friend. "These look like their skis. I know that these on top are Jonny's."

"Well, this means that they didn't ski back down the hill. I wonder why they left them here."

"Beats me," said Benton, leaving the shed to look around again. "They must have walked off somewhere quite deliberately. Look for tracks leading off into the woods." After only a few moments, Race summoned Benton to where he was standing near the trees across from the control shed. Deep tracks led straight into the woods, from where Race was standing. The two of them entered the woods and continued for awhile following the evident tracks, until finally they came to a lone cabin sitting in a clearing next to a now frosted lake. Benton had to admit that the scene looked pretty serene, but it was creepy all the same, knowing that the kids may be here.

Benton and Race crept up to the cabin, all the time searching their surroundings. As they neared the door, Race removed a pistol from his pocket and held it safely in his right hand. He walked a couple of steps behind Benton, as to watch his back. Benton peered cautiously through the window, but all he saw was an empty room. Race looked at it and said,

"Let's go in. I've got your back." The two men entered the silent room and looked around. The door to the other room was ajar, and Race proceeded with caution, as he approached the door. Suddenly he threw open the door and pointed the gun through the wide-open doorway. But the room was empty except for a bed and two chairs with ropes coiled around the arms and legs. Both men entered the room and studied the chairs.

"It looks like someone was held captive here," Benton said, grimly.

"It was probably Jonny and Hadji," Race responded. "Jessie said that she saved them. But where are they now? What happened to them?" Race stamped his foot on the floor and growled. "Damn it!"

"Let's look for clues outside," Benton said, trying to keep his wits about him. Not only had his two sons been assaulted and kidnapped once, but now they were missing again, and he had no way of knowing how to find them.

When they had exited the cabin and taken a couple of steps back into the snow, Race's cell phone rang. He answered,

"Race Bannon." On the other end of the line, a female's voice said,

"Race, I know where Jessie is!"



Jessie and Scott had been sitting in the bagel shop for almost half and hour, when

Jonny and Hadji hurried by the window. Scott jumped up and ran outside to catch them. The three of them then came in and joined Jessie at the table.

"I bought you some muffins," Jessie told her friends, as she pushed the white paper bag toward them, and they savagely ripped into the bag. "So tell us what happened," she pressed them, eagerly.

"We didn't have to follow them for long," Jonny said, between mouthfuls of his blueberry muffin. "Luckily we were right when we guessed that we were close to wherever they were taking us. It's only about two miles down the road—a huge place surrounded with barbed wire with a guardhouse at the gate. It looked like some sort of a chemical factory. We got there just in time to see those guys freaking out because we weren't there." Jonny took another bite of his muffin, and Hadji took the chance to jump in.

"We watched them argue for a few minutes, but then we decided to come back here, just in case those men decided to try to find us."

"They don't know when we jumped out of the van," Jonny resumed the story. "We could have escaped right after they pulled away from the ski resort or anywhere else along the way. But just in case they did decide to chase us down, we thought that we should keep a low profile. Especially since this town is so close to their hideout. They could drive by at any moment. We should keep to the indoors for awhile."

"That's fine with me," said Jessie, whose face had regained some color and whose hair was almost completely dry.

"How are you feeling, my friend?" Hadji asked.

"Much better," Jessie smiled. "Oh, and Scott called the Compound. He spoke to Mom and told her where we are. She said that she would call our dads. They went to the ski resort looking for us."

"Oh man," Jonny said, shaking his head. "I'd better call my dad to be sure he knows we're okay. I also want to give him the license number of the van, in case he and Race pass it along the way.

"I will go with you, Jonny," Hadji said. Then he turned to Scott, "Did you see if there is a payphone nearby, where we will not be seen if someone should pass by?"

"Well, I used the one in front of the diner, down the street. But there may be one inside the bank or a restaurant."

"They probably won't be open yet," Jonny said. "But we'll look around. Be right back." Jonny and Hadji left the building, allowing the frigid early-morning air to enter momentarily.

"So," Scott said, "You promised that you would tell me about your family."

"Oh, right," Jessie said. "Well, my mom and dad are divorced. They divorced when I was seven, and after that I lived with my mom in South America. She would travel a lot for her job—she's an archeologist—so we lived in a few different places. But then I came to visit my dad here in Maine one week and decided to stay with him instead. He was working for Jonny and Hadji's father, Dr. Quest. Dr. Quest is a famous scientist, and my dad is his bodyguard."

"I've heard of Dr. Quest from my father, who's also a scientist. That's Jonny's father?"

"Yes, and Hadji's. You see, Dr. Quest and Jonny and my dad would travel a lot, and when they were in Bangalore several years ago, they met Hadji, who was an orphan living with a peddler named Pasha. Dr. Quest offered to adopt Hadji, and Hadji and Pasha accepted. I guess Dr. Quest just felt an instant rapport with Hadji, and Jonny and he got along great, so it all worked out. Then when I visited my dad, I met Dr. Quest and his sons. We all became really close in the two weeks that I spent there. When it came time for me to leave, I wanted to stay, and my parents agreed that I would have a more stable life living in Maine and going to the same school year-round. I've been there ever since."

"Wow," Scott said, shaking his head, "that's some story. So is your mom just visiting now?"

"Yeah," Jessie replied. "She came for Christmas, but..."

"What?" Scott said, concerned.

"Well, my parents have been arguing about who I should live with. My mom thinks that my life with my dad is too dangerous."

"I bet that this experience won't help much, will it?"

"Probably not," Jessie sighed. They sat in silence for the next few minutes. Jessie watched the main street becoming more crowded with people and cars. It really was a cute little town, she decided. Too bad that she and her friends were not here under more pleasant circumstances.

Soon Jonny and Hadji hurried back into the little bagel shop, which now had many more customers. They sat down with Jessie and Scott, and Jonny said,

"I spoke to my dad and told him that we're fine. He and Race were just leaving the ski resort to head here. When Estella told them where we were, Dad had IRIS's map program print him directions to where this town is. They'll drive straight here and meet us in this café."

"Okay cool," Jessie replied, without looking up. She felt a little overwhelmed by all that had happened, but at the same time, she knew that there was nothing that they could do for the time being. They would just have to wait for their fathers to arrive. Then they could work on finding these criminals and saving Scott's father. That's right, Jessie remembered, Scott's father had been kidnapped also. And they had no idea where he was.

"Scott," Jessie said, "What did your father invent that those guys wanted to steal?"

"It's an agent that can make you invisible for a brief time."

"He invented an invisibility potion?" Jonny said, incredulously.

"Yeah, basically. It took him years to figure out the formula, but he's pretty much got it down, now. A small dropper full will make someone invisible for an hour, two droppers for two hours, and so on. He sent the prototype to his associates in California for analysis, but when the press interviewed him last week, it sort of blew up in his face, so to speak. These kidnappers read about it in a science journal and attacked him the very next day. My father realized the risks of his solution. He knew that people would use it for crime, that governments would want it for espionage. But he was so certain that he would be able to use it for good..."

"Like what?" Jessie asked, cautiously. "I mean, did he intend to invent it, or did he just sort of stumble upon the formula?"

"Well," Scott said, "I guess a part of him thought it would be really cool to be invisible. I mean, who wouldn't want to be invisible at one point or another? But I don't think that it was an obsession of his to accomplish this. It sort of came to him accidentally. One day he just figured it all out. But then he realized that if someone were to take a high enough dose of the formula, he could remain invisible forever. That's why he sent it to California for analysis—to find out if the affects could be reversed, if someone should take too much. He was also working on the reverse potion, so you wouldn't just have to wait for the potion to wear off. You could take the visibility formula to become visible again."

"Wow, that's something else," Jonny said.

"That is incredible," said Hadji. "Just think that anyone could become invisible whenever he desires."

"Well, I hope that we can find my father soon," Scott sighed, placing his chin in his hand. "Those men could do anything to him, now that we've escaped."

"Do you think that they're keeping him in that chemical factory?" Jonny asked.

"I don't know," said Scott. "Maybe, but how will we get in there to help him?"

"We could certainly use some of that invisibility solution now," Hadji said, and he leaned back in his chair and turned toward the window, his thoughts a million miles away.



It was just after 9:00 when Hadji noticed Dr. Quest's car pull into a parking space near the bagel shop. The four teenagers jumped up and ran to meet him outside. (During the hour that they had been waiting for their fathers Jonny, Hadji, and Jessie searched for new boots to wear. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to walk again," Jonny had said, referring to how painful it had been to run while wearing ski boots. Jessie too was relieved to finally slip her feet into a pair of warm, padded snow boots. Jessie also shopped quickly for some new clothes, "so I can take off these nasty rags," she had said, and a winter coat. She already had two at home and the one in her backpack, but none of those would help her now, and she wanted to give Jonny his coat back. These were the benefits of living with a millionaire. But Jessie did plan to give her two coats at home to charity.) Race had pulled up a few spaces ahead in Hadji's car, which came as a surprise to everyone.

"Why did you bring my car," Hadji asked, as Race approached the group.

"So we wouldn't have to go out of our way to pick it up on the way back," Race said. He then threw his arms around his daughter and said, "Are you all right, sweetheart? You really had us worried."

"I'm fine, Dad," Jessie replied, looking at Jonny and Hadji, who were taking turns hugging Dr. Quest. "But we really need to catch these kidnappers."

"What we really need to do is get you to a hospital." Then seeing Jessie prepare to respond, he put up a hand and said, "Just to make sure you're all right. And don't argue, young lady. Your mother said that you fell through some ice."

"I did," she sighed. "But I'm feeling much better, really. And we need to go after those guys."

"Believe me, I want nothing more than to see those assholes pay for what they've done, but your health is more important. Why don't we find a local hospital and just make a quick appointment. Benton and I will search for those bastards after I know that you're safe and sound in the hospital."

"No way!" Jessie exclaimed.

"You're not going without us," said Jonny.

"You will need us to identify the bad guys," said Hadji. Race sighed, and Benton said,

"You know, Race, they're right. If we go to that warehouse and see dozens of people, we won't know who's involved with the kidnapping. Besides, we'll need the police to back us up."

"Let's go find a hospital first," Race said, relentlessly, "and from there we'll call the local police and fill them in."

"All right," Benton agreed.

Half and hour later, the six of them in two cars, arrived at the Keedysville General

Hospital. Miraculously the doctor was able to see Jessie right away (Race had called the hospital from the car to set up a last-minute appointment, saying that Jessie had fallen through the ice and then had been without warm clothes or medical attention all night.)

While Jessie was in the examination room, Benton phoned the Keedysville Police Department and told them of the situation with his family and Scott's father, Dr. Barnes.

"The police are sending five squad cars over to the warehouse that you told me about," Dr. Quest told Hadji, Jonny, and Scott. "Apparently a technician from your father's lab, Scott, had phoned the police when he arrived in the morning and found the lab destroyed. The Maine State Police have been searching for leads on you and your father, since no one had seen either of you in three days."

"Well," Scott said, somewhat ashamedly, "I only went home once after the attack to grab some clothes. I didn't want to stay there in case those guys came by looking for the formula. Also, I knew the police would come by looking for my dad, and since Steve had warned me not to alert them, I didn't want to risk my father's life by speaking with the police. I've been driving around in my car ever since."

"We'll find your father," Dr. Quest said, placing a consoling arm around Scott's shoulders, even though Scott was almost as tall as Dr. Quest. "I've heard a lot of great things about his research, even though I've never met him. Now I'll have the opportunity, though," he smiled, reassuringly. At that moment Jessie and Race emerged from the exam room with Dr. Bryce.

"Everything's fine," Race said, wiping his brow with relief, as he approached the four men waiting in the lobby. "The doctor said her temperature and pulse are where they should be. I have you three to thank for taking care of her." Race glanced at Jonny, Hadji, and Scott.

"Don't thank us, Race," Jonny spoke up, looking over at the beautiful red head, who had gained back all of the color in her face, and then some. "Jessie took care of herself. Even while tied up, she managed to collect enough clothes to stay warm."

"Well, warmer," Jessie modified Jonny's description, quickly avoiding his gaze.

"Jessie knew what she needed," Hadji added, "and she found it." Race hugged he daughter and then said,

"So Benton, did you get through to the police?"

"I did, and they said to meet them at the factory." So the group left and returned to their cars parked outside. They drove the fifteen minutes to the factory (in nine minutes thanks to Jonny's badgering) and practically tumbled out of the cars after screeching to a halt in front of the gate. The guardhouse was a good 200 yards away, but the Quests and Bannons intended to keep a low profile until they made contact with the police.

"You three stay here," Race said to Jonny, Hadji, and Jessie. "Scott, you come with us, so you can ID the kidnappers to the police and explain to them about what happened to your father."

"But..." Jonny started.

"Don't," Benton said and hurried away with Race and Scott, before Jonny or anyone else could protest.

"Damn," Jonny muttered, kicking at the snow, which came halfway to his knees.

"Do you think the police are here yet?" Jessie asked, standing on tiptoes and craning her neck, while searching near the guardhouse. "I don't see any sign of them."

"Well, they may decide to be discreet and stake out the place before charging in,"

Jonny said, leaning against the side of Race's red Camero. "I hate waiting."

"Really," Hadji said, and Jessie could not tell if Hadji was being sarcastic or agreeing with Jonny. After about ten minutes they suddenly saw two police officers, wielding assault rifles, run across the quiet road and enter the guardhouse.

"That must have been the signal to attack," Hadji said. "Perhaps other officers are approaching from behind the factory." He moved a few steps down the road. Jonny followed Hadji to get a better look, but neither one could catch a glimpse of any activity around the gatehouse. Jonny sighed and said,

"We should get out of the open, Hadj."

"Yes, you are right, my friend," Hadji replied, turning back to the two parked cars. "Where is Jessie?" He asked, searching the area.

"I don't know," Jonny said, quietly. "Jess?" He did not want to shout, but he wanted to make sure that she could hear him. The two boys hurried toward the cars. Jonny called Jessie's name again but did not receive an answer. "She wouldn't go off alone would she?" Jonny asked turning to Hadji. He was worried now, because he knew that Jessie would not just take off without saying anything. Hadji and Jonny cautiously made their way around to the other side of the two cars, calling Jessie's name. Jonny could feel a knot forming in the pit of his stomach, as he rounded Race's car.

"Jess?" he whispered, and then he stopped short and gasped, not able to believe his eyes. There in front of him, crouching in the deep snow, were Steve, Joey, and Jessie.

Jessie's hands were tied in front of her (with rope, this time. Steve and Joey had planned this attack) but Joey also had one of his huge arms around Jessie's arms and torso, pinning her body to his, and a hand drawn tightly across her mouth, keeping her head safely against his right shoulder in an attempt to prevent her from head-butting him.

"Oh, God," Jonny said hoarsely, frozen in place, as both men rose from the ground, dragging Jessie to her feet, and Steve drew his gun to aim at Jonny and Hadji. As soon as Jessie had spotted Jonny and Hadji, she began struggling against her captor, but he was much too strong and barely had to brace himself for the fight.

"Well," Steve sneered at Jonny and Hadji, "we meet again." Jonny suddenly felt such a strong hatred build up inside of him that he almost lost it and lunged at Steve. He caught himself in time, though, which resulted in him jerking forward and stamping his foot in the snow, although he arms and shoulders remained stiff.

"Careful," Steve's eyes flashed his malice at the blond teenager in front of him, and he cocked the pistol. At the sound, which seemed deafening to her, Jessie flinched and felt a sudden wave of dizziness overcome her. She knew that she was shaking, but it was unrelated to the cold, mountain air. The moment of silence that followed seemed to last an eternity before Steve finally said,

"So you thought that you could outsmart us, huh? We knew you would come back, and when we saw the police so _inconspicuously_ surrounding the complex, we knew that you three would not be far away. I still don't know who you are, or why you find it necessary to keep insisting on thwarting our plans, but I am here to tell you that it won't work. You have picked the wrong man to mess with," he added savagely. Jessie knew that if Steve ever had any doubt as to whether or not he wanted to hurt them, that it was gone now. This man was out for revenge.

As Steve had been raving, Hadji had been inching his way to the left of Steve, if only to divert Steve's attention away from Jonny, so perhaps Jonny would have the chance to make a move on the criminal. Steve noticed what Jonny and Hadji were planning, though. He suddenly jerked the gun in Hadji's direction and shouted,

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You don't make the rules here! Back up." Hadji obeyed and took a step backward, just as Jonny approached from Steve's other side. In a split second movement, Jonny lunged at Steve, and Steve held the gun high above his head, as he turned to Jonny and brought the gun down hard on Jonny's head. He fell instantly, attended by a chorus of Jessie's muffled screams and Hadji's startled shout. "I told you that this is my game here, all right?" Steve seethed. "My game!" He stood over the motionless body of Jonny, whose head was surrounded by blood-soaked snow. Hadji stood transfixed, staring at Jonny, blaming himself for what happened. But Steve did not want to linger, having accomplished what he had intended. He knew that he and Joey had been outnumbered, and he had been waiting for an opportunity to eliminate one of the teenagers. He knew that he could not risk firing the gun and alerting the cops of their position. But he also could not allow these kids to realize that. It had worked out perfectly though. He and Joey now had their hostages, so they would be guaranteed a safe getaway, and no fingerprints or other identifying material (such as a bullet) would be left behind. Steve waved the gun toward Hadji and said,

"All right, let's get going. Move it, come on." Hadji hesitated at first, glancing at Jessie quickly, and then to Jonny's body. He knew he had no choice. He could not fight these two, and he would not risk allowing Jessie to be hurt. He would just have to hope that later on they would have an opportunity to escape. He turned and walked into the street, not sure where Steve was leading them, but then Joey passed him, carrying Jessie, with her feet hanging inches off of the ground, and walked across the street and into the woods. "Move!" Steve shouted again, and Hadji increased his pace to catch up with Jessie and Joey.



Jonny opened his eyes. He had been lying on his back in the snow, apparently unconscious, but it had been a ruse. He knew that he was lucky not to be unconscious or even dead, but Steve had hit him in the just the right place, so that Jonny had fallen just from the force of the hit. He had immediately chosen to "play dead." He had realized that Steve and Joey were outnumbered, gun or no gun, and that they would not be able to kidnap three very healthy teenagers, who had already escaped from them once. If they thought that Jonny was out of the way, Jonny would be able to follow, without them suspecting.

He jumped up quickly, but swayed slightly, as he gained his footing. His head stung, where Steve had hit him, and he knew that he was bleeding. After a moment, he opened his eyes again, and having regained his balance, he set off across the street. He could still make out the giant black coat that Joey wore, and Jonny made sure to keep his distance, as he followed.

This journey through the woods was much shorter than the one early that morning, and within a few minutes, Jonny saw the group emerge from the woods and into a massive parking lot. It must have been auxiliary parking of the chemical factory, but there were few cars parked there at the moment.

Jonny remained hidden in the woods. He was thankful to be wearing dull colors—black jeans and a black coat; these would help him not to stand out. He saw Joey place Jessie back down on the ground and go to the car to search for something. Steve kept the pistol trained on Hadji and Jessie, and Jonny wondered if the gun was even loaded.

Joey emerged from the car with more rope, which he used to tie Hadji's wrists. He then blindfolded Jessie and shoved her into the back seat of the car.

Jonny watched as Steve opened the trunk and told Hadji to get in. Jonny felt sick, standing there, hiding, and watching his friends being kidnapped. But he knew that he had made the right decision. This way he would be able to tell the police and his father and Race which way the car went. He inched his way to the edge of the woods to get a better view of the car, which was only about twenty feet away. He could just barely make out the license plate number and make and model of the car, before it began to pull out of its parking space.

Jonny hurried along the tree line toward the driveway leading from the parking lot back to the main road. As the car disappeared around the curve of trees, Jonny broke into a run and rounded the left turn down the driveway. He just barely managed to catch sight of the car turning right onto the main road to head back toward the little town of Frankford. Jonny then sprinted down the remainder of the driveway until reaching the road and then turned left to return to the guardhouse only about 100 yards up the road. Upon reaching the guardhouse, he knocked urgently on the door and said breathlessly, as an officer cautiously opened the door,

"My name is...Jonathan Quest," he gasped for air. "My father is Benton Quest. He's the man who called the police to report the criminal activity going on...here...at this factory."

"Okay," the officer began, somewhat suspiciously. "Do you have ID to back up your statement?" Jonny reached into his pocket and produced his wallet, from which he removed his license. He handed it to the officer, who viewed it quickly and then returned his gaze to the young man standing before him. "What can I do for you?" he asked, without emotion.

"My friends were just kidnapped by two of those criminals. They're heading that way," he pointed down the road, "toward Frankford in a red Dodge Neon, license number JRK 954. I can give you descriptions." The officer surveyed Jonny for a moment, before turning to his partner to discuss the matter. Both men looked to be in their early to mid-thirties, clean-shaven, but tired. Jonny guessed that they had been on duty for several hours, and he therefore wondered if they would take him seriously or even want to help. The first officer, though, turned back to Jonny and said,

"I'll contact my superior at the station to confirm your claim of your father calling in earlier." He turned to the phone and began dialing. Normally he would not have entertained such a story coming from a haggard looking teenaged boy, but the boy looked

desperate, and his head was bleeding. Clearly he had been in some sort of trouble, and the

officer could not refuse him help.

In the meantime, his partner asked Jonny to sit down and brought out a First Aid kit. He had begun to place gauze on his head, when the first officer heard the line connect on the other end. The voice that answered was that of the commander.

"Hillstown Police Station, Commander Bartlett speaking."

"Commander, this is Officer Brady," the officer replied. "I'm at the chemical factory on Brinkley Road, where the crime ring was brought down this morning."

"Yes," replied the commander. "Any more news?"

"Well, there's a teenaged boy here who just claimed that his friends have been kidnapped by two of the members of this criminal organization. He says his name is Quest, and that his father was the one who called the station this morning to report the criminal activity."

"Yes, Dr. Benton Quest called in this morning. He agreed to meet the police at the factory. He's probably in there right now. You say the boy's friends were kidnapped? I'll send out two patrol cars. Where are they headed?"



When Steve slammed the door to the trunk, and Hadji was left in darkness, a wave of terror overcame him. If there was one fear that he had, it was claustrophobia. Just the thought of being in a closed-in space that he may never get out of, would make him break out in a cold sweat. Now, actually being in that situation, he felt as if he was having a panic attack.

Hadji remembered Jessie telling him once about a situation in which she and Jonny had been, when they were trapped in a collapsing scientific observation building built on the ocean floor. The men, who had been blasting through the sand with dynamite to finish building the city, had accidentally released a new species of sea creatures from their hives within the earth's crust. The carnivorous creatures had then attacked the city and its inhabitants, which at the time included, Dr. Quest, Jessie, Jonny, the scientists and oceanographers stationed at the observation site, and the builders. Jessie had told Hadji later that she had not realized that she was claustrophobic until that moment, when the walls were collapsing around her, water was quickly filling the rooms of the small city under the sea, and flesh-eating monsters were forcing their way through the reinforced glass windows. Hadji remembered thinking that he was lucky not to have been there. He did not think that he could have handled it.

Now he was beginning to understand how Jessie had felt. He felt as if the darkness was deepening with every moment, and the carpeted walls of the trunk were closing in on him. He struggled through fits of trembling and minor hyperventilating to remember anything that he had heard or learned about what to do in this type of situation. He did recall an email that Jessie had received from a friend, which she had told him about. It contained information for what to do in life-threatening situations, and one situation was what to do if a person is trapped in the trunk of a moving car. The email had said that she should kick out the tail light of the car and then reach her hand through the open space and wave vigorously. The driver of the car that she's in would not see her waving for help, but anyone driving behind the car would. Hadji never in his life thought that he would be trapped in the trunk of a car, but now that he was, he was glad to have that information. He began kicking at the metal backing of the taillight and realized that it was not as easy as it had sounded at first to position himself in such a way as to have enough energy behind his leg muscles to kick out the light fixture. But he tried nonetheless. It at least gave him something to do other than worry about what would happen to him and Jessie, when they reached their destination.

It all but killed him to think about losing either Jessie or Jonny. He had never known such unconditional friends when he had lived on the streets of Bangalore. His only acquaintance and friend was Pasha, who had rescued him from being murdered by Hadji's uncle Deepak who had been trying at the time and had succeeded in overthrowing the Sultan, Hadji's father. Pasha had smuggled the young Hadji out of the castle and had taken care of Hadji. But to Pasha Hadji had not been a foster son, and Pasha had not even pretended to treat him as such. Hadji was his charge, just a boy who lived in his house. He fed and clothed him, and in exchange Hadji would help him beg for money from the well-to-do families of Bangalore. To Hadji, that had been normal life. He had understood that he had no family—he had understood that he was on his own.

This is why he took Dr. Quest up on his offer to adopt Hadji. For the first time in his memory, he would have a family; he would have an identity. This is also what encouraged Hadji to pursue the lifestyle of yoga. Not only was yoga a relaxing hobby, but for Hadji it was also very spiritual. It allowed him to delve deep within his subconscious to find out who he truly was. It allowed him to discover his strengths and to overcome his weaknesses. Yoga was a release from trouble and grief, but also the renewal of his soul.

Jonny and Jessie in turn, had also added to Hadji's life. Jonny had given Hadji the comfort of a best friend and a brother. He and Jonny became inseparable and complemented each other perfectly. Jonny was rambunctious and unpredictable; Hadji was calm and thoughtful. Jonny often made fun of Hadji's words of wisdom, but Hadji knew that Jonny appreciated having those references for life. It helped to put a situation in perspective.

When Jessie had come to live at the Quest Compound, she brought a new dimension to Jonny and Hadji's lives. She and Jonny instantly became rivals in any competition that arose in Quest World or in reality. They would compete, and Hadji would mediate; but Hadji did not feel left out. He understood that each of them related to each other in different ways. While he could discuss strategy and fighting techniques with Jonny, he could compare scientific data and computer knowledge with Jessie.

Jessie, he thought to himself. She had been through so much lately—hitting her head on the sidewalk, falling through the ice, and all the while concerning herself with her parents' dispute. He knew that she was tough and strong-willed, but he still worried about her. It was too much for anyone to handle.



When Benton, Race, and Scott returned to the guardhouse, they were escorted by several officers, who had taken ten criminals into custody. The officers began shoving the solemn prisoners into the squad cars, and Benton was about to suggest that he and the two men return to their cars, parked up the road, when Jonny pushed his way past the officers in the guardhouse, shouting,

"Hey, Pop! Over here."

"Jonny," Benton exclaimed, halting mid-stride to look at his younger son, "What are you doing here? You were supposed to wait by the cars. And what happened to your head?"

"Dad, they're gone! Those maniacs took Hadji and Jessie and drove away!"

"What?" Race yelled, turning on Jonny. "What do you mean? What happened?"

"We were standing by the cars, where you left us," Jonny began, taking a deep breath, but then pressing on urgently. He told them what happened and what he had witnessed from his hiding place in the woods. When he had finished, the officer standing next to him said,

"I already called the station and had them dispatch some cars to search for the vehicle that your son described. The police are currently searching Frankford, and they've also put out an Amber Alert for the entire area. We'll find your kids."

"Thank you," Benton said, unsteadily, but then Race said, privately to Benton, Scott, and Jonny,

"Let's go." The four hurried away from the startled police officers. As they approached Race and Hadji's cars, Race continued, "Jonny, you said that they drove toward Frankford?" He had already climbed into the driver's seat and had practically pulled the car away before the doors were closed.

"They were heading that way," Jonny replied distractedly, "But they may not have stopped there."

"We passed several towns along the way from Bangor," Race said, sighing. "They could be going anywhere."

"I'm sorry, Race," Jonny said, without looking at the older man. "I could have come up behind them..."

"No, you did the right thing, Jonny," Race interrupted. "That man, Steve, had a weapon. You don't know if he was unbalanced enough to shoot all of you," Race's voice wavered. If that man were unbalanced, who knew what he would do to Jessie or Hadji.

The two drove in silence for several minutes. Jonny could see his father in the car behind them and knew that Dr. Quest was feeling exactly what Race was at that moment. Hadji may have been adopted, but in Dr. Quest's mind, Hadji was every bit his own son, like Jonny. Hadji still called his adoptive father, "Dr. Quest," but Jonny knew that it was simply out of habit. Hadji thought of Dr. Quest as his father. Jonny could not even imagine his life without Hadji. And Jessie, he thought, painfully. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to her.



It seemed like no time at all before the car pulled to a stop down a dark alley. Jessie knew that they had not driven far from the factory parking lot, and she had counted the turns that they had made—two right turns, one left. They were undoubtedly still in Frankford, for which she was grateful; with any luck they would be able to escape somehow. At least they knew the town.

On the other hand, she wondered why Steve and Joey had brought them to such a close location. Either they were very stupid and naïve enough to think that no one would find them here, or, as Jessie really believed, Steve did not mean for Hadji and Jessie to be here for long. She knew that Steve probably would not kill them here. He had taken them hostage for a reason—probably to ensure his and Joey's escape. But he would not likely have a use for them afterwards. If she and Hadji were going to escape, it would have to be before they left town.

The car door opened, suddenly, pulling Jessie from her thoughts. A massive hand grabbed her forearm and yanked her out of the car. She fell on the hard, cement ground, but when no one immediately helped her up, she stood up on her own and waited. She could hear distant cars moving, but otherwise the area was quiet. Even through the blindfold, she could tell that it was dark, wherever they were—darker than it had been in the parking lot earlier, and since she knew that it was still early in the day, they must be in an alley under the shadow of some buildings.

Another car door slammed, right before someone grabbed hold of Jessie's shoulders and guided her forcefully down the alley. When they finally stopped walking and one of the captors removed her blindfold, she found herself inside a huge room without furniture. The room's only décor were the packing boxes, which littered the floor at the far side of the room.

Jessie turned to see Hadji standing beside her. He glanced at her and smiled, reassuringly, but only momentarily, because Joey then grabbed both teenagers and hauled them over to the wall behind them about 10 feet to the right of the door through which they had just entered. On that wall were several huge pipes extending from the floor into the ceiling. It was to two of these pipes that Joey tied Hadji and Jessie. He then left them standing there and joined Steve on the opposite side of the room to begin packing boxes.

For the next several hours, while they watched Steve and Joey move materials from the two rooms in the building to the alley, Jessie and Hadji discussed their predicament.

"After all of the seemingly hopeless situations that we've been in, you would think that I'd be used to this by now. And you'd think that we would have found a way out of here. How does this keep happening?"

"Sometimes our situations do not warrant explanation. We must accept what life hands us and find a way to work through it."

"That's easier said than done," Jessie replied, struggling in vain against her bonds. Finally she gave up and hung limply against the ropes. "What do you think they're going to do to us?" Hadji did not reply at first, but continued to watch Steve and Joey at work. Then when Jessie wondered if Hadji was going to answer, he said,

"They seem to be loading those boxes into some vehicle beyond this building perhaps a truck. My guess is that when they have completed their packing they will come back for us. And I do not think that we will live to see the destination of those boxes." Jessie sighed, deeply,

"We have to get out of here, Hadji, before they can take us out of town. I think we'll have to risk getting shot."

"I think that you are right, my friend."



Race, Benton, Jonny, and Scott searched with the police throughout the day. While the police had been focusing their attention on the towns in the surrounding area, the Quest team had chosen to remain in Frankford.

"They could be anywhere," Benton had explained. "We could spend an eternity searching all over Maine, but maybe Jessie or Hadji will find a way to get a message back to this town. Or maybe they left a clue as to where they're going."

The four men had spent most of the afternoon combing the town on foot, but they had not found even the slightest clue.

"Do you think that they switched license plates, Dad?"

"It could happen," Dr. Quest replied, "But the police are searching for the make and model of the car too." The situation was beginning to look pretty grave. Benton and Race had stopped in every store in town to ask around for any sign of Jessie or Hadji; Jonny and Scott stopped shoppers along the street. No one had seen the two captives, nor had anyone noticed the Dodge Neon pass through town.

"There's nothing suspicious about a red car driving through a crowded town in the middle of the day," Race conceded. Benton could see that his friend was close to tears. Race and Jessie were extremely close. Ever since Jessie came to live with her father, Race had been trying to make up for the first few years of Jessie's life, during which Race had been absent most of the time. Benton had witnessed first hand what the possibility of losing Jessie to Estella was doing to Race. He was not about to allow Race to lose Jessie altogether.

"I'll call the police, and see if they've come up with any leads," Benton said, with determination.

The sun that shone through the gloomy windows of the warehouse was fading as the day wore on. Jessie and Hadji had watched the two men move boxes all afternoon. The longer they remained trapped in this building, the better their chances were of being rescued. It would give the police time to find them.

It was nearing sundown, though, when Steve and Joey returned through the door leading toward the alley outside, looking exhausted, but pleased. After conferring quietly with his associate for a few minutes, Steve headed back toward the door and called over his shoulder to Joey,

"I'm going to make sure everything in the truck is ready. You keep an eye on those two," he gestured to Jessie and Hadji. After watching Steve disappear outside, Joey glanced around the almost empty room. He seemed at a loss as to what to do with himself, and finally his gaze rested on Jessie. He smirked as he strode toward the two seventeen year olds. He stopped in front of Jessie and stared at her for a longer time than she was comfortable with. She avoided his gaze for a while, but then decided to stare him down. In her position she felt that she should show as much confidence as she could. She set her jaw and looked him directly in the eye, but she was disconcerted at the evil that shown back at her. Then Joey smiled, a sick, menacing smile, and said,

"Do you know what Steve is planning? He's planning on killing you two after we leave here. But," he paused a moment, looking her up and down, "I could convince him to let you live." Jessie did not answer, but again concentrated her gaze past him. She was worried where this offer was going, but she suppressed the urge to spit in his face. Being tied to a pole, she was unable to defend herself, if she needed to. He saved her the need to make the decision, though, by continuing,

"Why don't we just go over there and talk it over?" He began untying her, finally allowing the ropes to fall to the floor. Jessie quickly stepped out of the coil of ropes at her feet and hurriedly backed a few steps away. Her hands were still tied together, but she did not attempt to loosen them; she was focusing on his face, trying to anticipate his next move. Jessie could see Hadji behind Joey's shoulder, watching her anxiously, but before she could communicate anything to him, Joey advance toward her. She did the first thing that came to mind—she spit in his face, and when he growled and launched himself at her, she kicked his bad knee with all of her strength. His knee gave way, and he fell to the floor; she lost her balance momentarily and fell backwards, but she pushed herself to her feet, and began running across the room toward the towers of boxes. He was on top of her, before she could react, though, and forced her to the floor. He kneeled over her and forcefully rolled her on her back. Desperately she punched him in the nose with her two fists, together, but with a yelp of pain, he smacked her across the face with his right hand and grabbed her wrists with his left, pinning them to the floor.

Her face stung from the attack as her cheek lay against the cold, concrete floor. Her mind was racing, and she could not think what to do. Distantly she heard Hadji calling her name, but she could not see him—when she looked up, Joey's face was right in front of hers, and for a moment, neither of them moved. Then slowly, Joey shifted his weight to his left hand and used his right to find the zipper on Jessie's coat. Her breath caught in her throat, as Joey unzipped her coat. Jessie felt as if the room was spinning and the blood rushed to her face and grew hot as anger overtook her fear. Joey placed his hand on her stomach, slowly moving it under her sweater.

All of a sudden, the air was alive with gunfire outside the building. Joey nearly jumped out of his skin, and Jessie took that opportunity. With great effort and more strength than she knew she had, brought on by the emotion and urgency of the moment, Jessie used her arms and hips to throw him off of her. Before he could react, Jessie tore off across the room and dove behind the piles of boxes, which extended the wall perpendicular to the front of the building. From her hiding place inside a box she glanced around frantically searching for a way out, still breathless from the attack.

Joey hobbled past the box, searching for her, and once he was out of sight, among the maze of cardboard, she doubled back toward the back of the room. In the corner of that wall was a solid metal door. She did not know where it led, but she took the risk and pushed it open.

Engulfed in a rush of icy air, Jessie made a mad dash into the foot of snow behind

the warehouse. The sun had set, but she could see remnants of streetlights down the road and used that advantage to turn left and make her way around toward the front of the building.

As she rounded the corner of the warehouse, she ran right into a dark figure. No! This couldn't be happening. She was too close to freedom. She regained her balance before falling down and raised her arms to smack the man blocking her way to safety. He caught her arm, though, mid-blow and said,

"Jessie, it's me, Scott. It's all right." Jessie stopped fighting him and looked into his face. He did not smile, but his eyes showed the relief that he felt. His face reflected concern, and with the shadows of the distant streetlights on his face, he looked older than his eighteen years.

All at once, her legs collapsed from under her, and she fell into his arms from a combination of relief and exhaustion, and she remained there for quite some time. Distantly she heard a song, and she was not sure if it was playing somewhere nearby, or if the melody was in her head, but it was a song that she knew well. One that she had always liked, but to which she had never been able to relate until that moment:

_Isn't anyone going to find me? Won't somebody come take me home? It's a damn, cold night. I'm tryin' to figure out this life. Won't you take me by the hand—take me somewhere new? I don't know who you are, but I'm, I'm with you. I'm with you._

After what seemed like an eternity, Scott pushed her away from him and said, as he untied her wrists,

"We should get back; your family is looking for you." She suddenly remembered her dad and Dr. Quest—and Hadji, still trapped inside! She and Scott hurried around to the front of the building. Police lights flickered in the alley, and officers with weapons swarmed the area. The two young people pushed their way through the commotion and entered the building through the front door, where there were more officers taking a bewildered Joey into custody. Jessie turned to her right to see Dr. Quest and Jonny with their arms around Hadji.

"Jonny?" Jessie whispered, disbelievingly. Her feet seemed rooted to the floor, and she simply stared for a moment, until Dr. Quest turned and saw her and shouted,

"Jessie!" The three of them were upon her almost before she had registered the exclamation.

"We were so worried about you!"

"Are you all right?"

"Where've you been?"

"When we came in here, and you weren't here..."

"Hadji told us that you ran out the other door, and Race went looking of you." Jessie looked up, upon hearing Dr. Quest's comment, and saw her father hurrying toward the group from across the room. He took her in his arms and held her tightly, comforting his own nerves as well as hers.

Caught up in the moment, all of the emotion that she had experienced in the previous 24 hours came rushing at her like a title wave. She broke down completely, as she stood in the middle of the large room in her father's arms, while her friends stood by and thanked God that she was alive and well. Finally she pulled away from her father's arms and looked at Jonny.

"I thought you were dead," she barely whispered.

"I was lucky," Jonny replied, wrapping his arms around her.

"Where were you, Ponchita?" Race asked Jessie, placing a hand on her shoulder, causing her to step away from Jonny. "We rushed in here, after the police told us they had a lead on where you were, and we found Hadji tied to a pole, and you were nowhere in sight."

"Well, I..." Jessie stammered, glancing at Hadji. "I escaped when one of those men untied me. He tried to hit me. I blocked him and kicked his knee, causing him to fall," she explained carefully, not meeting her father's eye. "Then before he could come after me, I ran away." Then glancing quickly at Hadji, she rushed on, "I'm sorry I left you Hadji; I would've come back for you..."

"It is all right Jessie," Hadji interrupted. "You had to do what was best for your own safety." His heart was breaking for her. He had noticed that she had abbreviated Joey's assault on her. He did not blame her for wanting to forget what had happened, but he did not believe that it would be so easy. Already he could see the red mark where Joey had smacked her across the face.

"Well," Race said, returning his leather gloves to his hands, "let's get out of here. The police need your statements, and then you four need some rest." He and Dr. Quest explained that the six of them would be staying in a little bed and breakfast on the edge of town that night. They would then head home the following morning.

"I'm sorry that we haven't been able to locate your father yet, Scott," Dr. Quest said. "But the police are still working on it, and you are welcome to stay with us until we find him."

"Thank you, Dr. Quest. I'm sorry I pulled all of you into this."

"Don't worry about it," Race laughed tiredly. "This family attracts danger like a lightening rod. Besides you have helped us out a lot today. We owe you."



That evening the Quest/Bannon party enjoyed room service at the Hope Inn in Frankford and discussed the previous day and a half. They had visited the Keedysville Hospital for the second time that day to do an x-ray of Jonny's head. He had needed ten stitches and was cautioned to stay off of his feet that evening and to keep a cold compress on his head to reduce swelling. Jonny accepted the doctor's orders and sat with his feet up that evening while holding the ice pack to his head with his left hand and eating lasagna with his right hand.

When Benton had called the police station late that afternoon to find out if the cops had found any more information about the whereabouts of Jessie and Hadji, Commander Bartlett had said that as a matter of fact, they did have some information that may help.

"Apparently," Dr. Quest related, still amazed at the story, "a woman walking through town had happened to look up at the precise moment that one of the tail lights from a Dodge Neon fell off as it drove by her on Main Street. She thought it was odd but didn't think to do anything about it until the car stopped at a traffic light a block up the street, and she saw a hand waving at her through the empty space where the tail light had been."

"I was not sure if it would work," Hadji commented, shuddering at the memory. "I took a chance that someone would see me."

"Well, it's a good thing that you did," Dr. Quest continued. "The woman hurried to the police station to report what she had seen, but by the time some officers arrived on the scene, the car was long gone. They walked up and down Main Street stopping people to ask them if anyone else had seen the car without a taillight and someone waving a hand from inside the trunk. A couple of hours later, they were rewarded, when another person decided to go to the station and report seeing the car turning down an alleyway. Of course he had seen the incident long before he reported it, but it hadn't really occurred to him what he had seen until much later. But better late than never," Benton smiled. The police searched all of the alleyways in town and eventually found the car without the taillight. It was then that they radioed for more back up and surrounded the entrance to the warehouse. I called the station just as the officers were all rushing to the scene, and when we arrived they were having an all out gun fight."

"They'll be interrogating those creeps now, along with all of their accomplices," Race added. "But your statements will be the key that locks them away."

"We're really proud off all of you," Benton said. "It took a lot of courage to endure all that happened to you." Hadji caught Jessie's eye momentarily, but then Jessie stood up suddenly and said,

"I'd better call Mom and let her know that I'm all right."

"Oh, I called her before, and told her..." Race cut off, as Jessie disappeared into the next room and closed the door. "Well, who wants more lasagna?" Race asked, somewhat less cheerfully.

Jessie did not reappear after rushing off into her room of the suite, but the others retired to their own rooms soon after she. All of them were exhausted from the day's adventures, and they each slept restfully throughout the night.


	7. Thursday, December 28

Thursday, December 28th

They got an early start that morning, as they were anxious to return to the Quest Compound. The morning was clear but cold, and a light breeze shook the branches of the bare trees, causing them to creak ominously. Scott felt that the weather was fitting to how he felt—while he was happy that Jessie and Hadji had been rescued and that all of them were safe, he was still worried about his father, whom the police were still unable to find.

Dr. Quest had related to Scott the guilt that he felt for leaving Frankford and returning home, while Dr. Barnes was still missing, but since there was no sign of the missing scientist in Frankford, it did not seem logical to remain in the town.

"We can do a more thorough search from the Compound," Dr. Quest had explained. "I have some contacts with the state police, and I'll tell them what we know already. I'll do everything that I can to help reunite you with your father."

Scott was thankful that he had come to know the Quests and Bannons. He did not know if he would have been able to find his father without them. Even if he had been able to obtain a copy of his father's formula, who could say that the criminals would have cooperated and actually released his father. More likely they would have killed both Scott and Dr. Barnes after gaining possession of the invisibility potion, and then they would have disappeared forever. No, it's better that they're all in custody now, Scott thought to himself, as he sat in the passenger seat of Race's Camero. Even if they never found his father, at least no one would be able to abuse his invention.

Scott glanced at the vanity mirror to steal a view of Jessie, who was sitting in the back seat. She was staring out of the window, watching the winter scenery flash by, but her expression suggested that her thoughts were a million miles away. Scott was concerned about her. When she had run into him quite literally the previous night, she had seemed absolutely terrified. Of course she had a right to be, Scott reasoned, but even after she realized who he was and had stopped fighting him, what he had seen in her eyes unnerved him. She had seemed lost. This Jessie was very different than the one with whom he had shared a bagel in the coffee shop, just after escaping from the back of the criminals' van. Something about the warehouse must have been infinitely more terrifying than the van experience. Ever since then, she had been distant, avoided answering any direct questions, and spent as much time alone as she could. He did not know her well, but he knew that he cared for her. She was beautiful and kind, and although he had known her for only a couple of days, and during that time they had been fighting for their lives, he had seen glimpses of a spirited personality. She had told him about some of the places to which she and her family had traveled, and the adventures that they had had. She sounded like a fascinating person, and he really wanted to have the chance to get to know her, but whatever had happened to her in that building really affected her mind. Or maybe it was just everything over the past few days building up to a climax, and the warehouse experience had simply pushed her over the edge. He hoped that once she returned home she would recover quickly. And he intended to help.



The two cars wound their way up the long driveway and pulled up to the mansion about 1:00 PM. Estella was waiting for them on the front steps, and when Race's car doors opened, and Jessie climbed out onto the driveway, Estella ran to her, with tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Jessie! Thank God that you're all right." She held Jessie so tightly that her hands were turning white. "I was biting my fingernails all day yesterday."

"I'm fine, Mom," Jessie replied, breathlessly, extracting herself from her mother's grip. "Really," she smiled. "We're all okay."

"Yeah, Estella," Race agreed, coming up behind Jessie and wrapping his arm around her shoulders, "We'll tell you the whole story inside." The three Bannons followed the others into the mansion and settled into the living room, which still bore the stunning Christmas tree, although unlit.

"I didn't even bother getting a tree, this year," Scott mentioned to no one in particular. "Dad had been working practically 24 hours a day to finished the formula and package it, so he could send it to his partners in San Francisco. Then when he disappeared, celebrating Christmas fell to the bottom of my list. I didn't even notice Christmas Day." He paused and then looked up suddenly, realizing that all eyes were on him. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go on like that.

"It's perfectly all right," Dr. Quest told him, leaning back in his armchair by the windows. "But let me ask you something. You said that your father was worried about the potion falling into the wrong hands. Was he certain that he could trust his partners, to

whom he sent the formula?"

"Oh, you can trust them," Scott nodded, straightening in his place on the couch with Jessie and Jonny. "It's mainly my father's brother Alex and his associate Peter Johansson. They're all right. But after my father mailed the package, he really began having doubts about whether or not he should be reproducing this solution. He was about to call my uncle to tell him not to analyze it, but..."

"Why did he tell the press about his invention?" Race wondered.

"Well I don't think that he did. Even when he was still excited about finding the correct formula, he still understood the need for secrecy. I think that one of the technicians leaked the information to the press. My father gave an interview in one of the scientific journals a few weeks ago, but he never mentioned the invisibility potion. The journal must have heard that from another source." He stopped speaking, clenching his teeth, visibly angry about the betrayal toward his father. "If I ever find out who told the press..." He let his last comment fall, without finishing the thought out loud. For a moment nobody spoke, as everyone considered the situation. Then Race sighed and said,

"I just don't understand where they would have hidden your father. He wasn't at the factory, which appeared to be their base of operation, and he wasn't at the warehouse in the alley."

"Well think about it logically," Benton said, appearing to be trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together in his mind. "These men needed Dr. Barnes accessible in case Scott demanded proof that he was still alive and also so that they could keep him alive. Not to mention so that he wouldn't escape. So he would have had to be with them most of the time. But then you were captured, Scott," Benton turned his attention to the young man, "and they probably worried about you knowing where your father was, so they moved him to somewhere less accessible to wherever you were going to be."

"Now that they're all in custody," Scott shook his head, "my father could be stuck somewhere, starving to death. That is if they didn't kill him already." Benton leaned forward in his armchair, resting one arm across his knee.

"If your father is alive, we will find him," he said, assuredly, although not entirely convinced himself.



Half an hour later Scott sat alone on the bed in his guest room. This house certainly was something, he thought, glancing around at the photographs decorating the walls. They were all black and white scenic prints of different places. One showed the ocean right before a storm, the sky hidden behind a multitude of clouds all different shades of gray. Another depicted a mountain range—maybe the Rockies or the Grand Tetons, Scott decided—capped with snow, as evergreen trees grew at its base. Each photograph was matted and framed, and on the mat at the bottom it was signed Rachel Quest. Scott was not sure who Rachel Quest was, but he understood that she must be a fantastic artist.

His gaze returned to the door of the room, which he had left ajar. He knew that Hadji's, Jonny's, and Jessie's rooms were just down the hall. He wondered if he should go knock on Jessie's door. She had retreated to her room after she, Jonny, and Hadji had given him the "grand tour," which really was grand in his opinion. The mansion consisted of only two floors, but it made up in square footage what it lacked in height. They began the tour in the main hall on the first floor, which extended from the front door to the back door.

"Dad had the house designed that way for convenience," Jonny had explained, "but it worked out better than we could have imagined. It's good to be able to keep an eye on the front and back doors at the same time, in case someone's trying to break in." The house was actually made up of several smaller buildings all connected together, as if the house had originally just consisted of the main part of the house. But that part of the house now made up the middle section of the H-shaped Compound, which also included an extra building for the garage.

The living room was on the left side of the main hall, just inside the front door. A few steps past the living room, on the other side of the hall, was the door to Dr. Quest's study, which Jonny told Scott was usually locked for security reasons. Scott supposed that Dr. Quest would have the need for an extensive security system in this mansion. First of all he was beyond what most people considered wealthy, but more than that, Scott knew from his own father that Dr. Quest had been producing inventions over the past 25 years that had revolutionized the scientific would. Scott imagined that many criminal organizations would pay big money to get their hands on either Dr. Quest or his inventions, and now Scott had first-hand experience of that very same thing.

Continuing down the main hall, they passed the main staircase on the left and came to the dining room on the right side of the hall, and the library on the left. Entering the library from the main hall, Scott noticed how the light from the two windows on the opposite wall (one in the alcove under the main staircase) filled the room, casting shadows on the bookcases, and giving the room an aura of being older than the rest of the house. The hardwood floor sported several large red cord rugs, which integrated with the armchairs by the windows, the computer desks along the wall to the right of the door, and the towering bookshelves to the left of the door.

Another door to the room led to another hallway, which crossed the main hall halfway between the front and back doors. On one end of this hall, between the living room and library, was the main staircase, and on the other end was the kitchen, which was technically in a separate building than the main part of the house. The kitchen attached to the main house through two doorways—one in the hallway leading to the stairs and the other one in the dining room, which was pretty magnificent, with a long table that seated ten people.

"We eat in the kitchen most of the time," Jessie had said, motioning toward the round table in the middle of the room. "There are only five of us living here, so there's no point in sitting at the dining room table." Scott had to admit that for a kitchen with all of the modern conveniences, it did look pretty cozy—the sunlight from the two kitchen windows shining on the white eyelet tablecloth covering a red one. Scott smiled, thinking that Jessie must have had quite a bit of influence on this house full of men. On the opposite side of the kitchen from the hall, were the laundry room and garage. There was also a doorway leading outside of the kitchen and to the driveway. Another door from the kitchen led to a game room with a pool table and a big screen TV.

"The walls in here are soundproof," Jonny explained, "so we can turn up the radio or TV as loud as we want, and we won't disturb our fathers."

As they made their way toward the opposite side of the house, walking back through the kitchen and into the hallway, Scott noticed several pieces of artwork hanging on either side of the hall. A light was mounted above each painting, illuminating each brilliantly. Certainly the walk to and from the kitchen was not a boring one, he thought to himself, as they made their way back to the main hall and turned left toward the living room. They walked through the living room, passing the Christmas tree on their left and the giant window facing the front lawn.

"Dr. Quest likes each room to very 'open,'" Hadji explained, noting how Scott shielded his eyes from the sunlight pouring through the living room window. They passed the fireplace on their right and continued on into the larger family room with two huge windows facing the cliffs, which surrounded the mansion on three sides, and a large-screen TV. On one side of the family room, facing the cliffs, was Race's suite, and on the other side, facing the front yard, were two guest suites.

"Well this house is pretty amazing," Scott said, turning back to the living room to head for the main staircase leading upstairs, but Jonny looked at him and smiled.

"We have another staircase." He led the way back through the house to the game room, and opened a closet door on the opposite side of the room. Scott followed and, stepping through the doorway, he discovered that this was no ordinary closet. He smiled, amused at the sight of the hidden staircase.

"I feel like I'm living out a game of Clue."

The four teenagers proceeded up a couple of steps, turning right at the landing and continuing up another long flight of stairs, finally reaching the second floor, in what Jonny called "the West Wing." This wing contained mainly guest rooms, and so they continued on into the main part of the house, which had one main hallway extending to the other side, where the main staircase joined the second floor. On the right side of the hall, facing the cliffs were three more guest rooms, but on the left side were Dr. Quest's room, a sitting room with some large armchairs and bookshelves, and a computer lab. Instead of returning to the main floor, by way of the main staircase, however, the four new friends, turned left at the stairs and headed down a smaller hallway, which led straight to a balcony, which extended the length of the main part of the house, and overlooked the snow-covered front lawn. The sitting room and Dr. Quest's room also had doors leading to the balcony.

After gazing out the window at the expansive lawn, the four turned to their right and walked through a doorway, which led to "the East Wing," which housed Jessie, Hadji, and Jonny's rooms, and the room that would be Scott's guestroom, which had a panoramic view of the cliffs on three walls of his room.

The sight had taken Scott's breath away, and he wondered how he would be able to return home after visiting here. With that the tour had ended, and the boys and Jessie had left him there to get settled.

As Scott sat on his guest bed, his mind wandered back to his father and everything that had happened over the past few days. He wanted to believe so badly that his father was alive but—(rring). His cell phone suddenly began its quiet ring, and he pulled it out of his pocket and answered on the third ring.

"Hello?" he said, tentatively. Few people had his cell phone number, so he wondered who would be calling.

"Scott! It's me, son."

"Dad!" Scott was so overwhelmed by the surprise of hearing his father's voice, that he could barely form the words to respond, "Where are you? Are—are you all right?"

"I'm all right," Dr Barnes answered. "I escaped last night, and I walked all night until I found a town from which to call you. Where are you?" he asked urgently. "Are you safe?"

"I'm at Dr. Benton Quest's home, Dad. It's a long story, but I'm safe. Dr. Quest has been helping me try to find you. He's had the state police looking for you. Look," Scott hurried on, not allowing his father time to reply. "Where are you? We'll come and get you."



Jonny was sitting at his computer console, his hands on the keyboard, but he was not typing. Hadji stood to his left looking out the window at the grounds, which stretched to the cliffs overlooking the ocean. Jonny had not had much of an opportunity until now to talk to his adopted brother about what had happened to him the previous day, but now that he did, Hadji had clammed up.

Jonny and Hadji had always had a close relationship; Jonny felt that he could talk to his friend about anything, but he found it difficult now to express his relief that Hadji was all right. He could not seem to formulate his feelings into words, but he was sure that Hadji knew already how Jonny felt. Conversely Jonny knew that Hadji was thinking the same about him. At times the two brothers seemed to be able to read each other's mind. Jonny shuddered when he remembered Jessie saying that she thought that he had been dead. Hadji had told him the same thing, and it had not occurred to Jonny until later what that must have down to his two best friends, first to be kidnapped and on top of that to believe that Jonny had been murdered by their assailants. Now he glanced up at Hadji, who immediately turned from the window to look at his brother. That one, shared look conveyed more than their most involved conversations, and Jonny knew that they understood each other.

Suddenly Scott burst through the open door of Jonny's room and announced, breathlessly,

"My dad called. I know where he is!"



The Quest Chopper landed at Peabody Airfield just outside of Warren, the town from which Dr. Barnes had called only 40 minutes earlier. The helicopter had made exceptional time and arrived shortly after 3:15 PM. Race removed the key from the ignition and climbed out of the driver's side door, as the rest of the family and Scott poured out of the right side of the chopper and onto the pavement outside.

Three state police officers had been dispatched upon hearing from Benton Quest of Dr. Barnes's escape and met the Quests at the airfield as they made their way toward the buildings twenty yards away. The officers, who had arrived in two cars, chauffeured the concerned family into town to meet Dr. Barnes at Warren Park, where he had agreed to wait. He had agreed that he should wait in an open and public place, in case any associates of the criminals, who had not yet been apprehended, should realize the scientist's whereabouts.

When the two cop cars pulled up to the small town park, Scott immediately sighted his father sitting on a bench in the snow-covered park feeding some ducks, who were taking advantage of the only partially ice-covered pond.

"Dad," Scott shouted, as he ran to his father and threw his arms around him. "Oh, I'm so glad that you're all right."

"Well, thank you," the scientist gasped, pulling himself from his son's death grip. "Now tell me how you've made friends with Dr. Benton Quest."



The eight new friends shared a collective sigh of relief as they sipped hot cider in the living room of the Quest Compound that evening. After Dr. Barnes had told the police where he had been all this time, Benton had invited Dr. Barnes and his son to stay at the mansion that night.

Joseph Barnes had originally been taken to the chemical factory and had been held there from Saturday the 23rd until early morning on Wednesday. He had not known why at the time, but about 5:00 AM, the crime boss threw Dr. Barnes in the trunk of his car and drove him to the boss's house in the country. There the boss locked Dr. Barnes in the cellar, which was separate from the house. After that no one came back for him or brought him food, and by that night he decided that he had to escape before he starved to death. Even though he had been attempting all week to escape, it was his newly discovered determination that finally helped him to loosen the ropes around his wrists. He rushed up the stairs of the cellar but found the wooden doors locked from the outside. After searching the root cellar, he found a rusted metal pole, which he used to rip apart the wooden slats and pry open the cellar doors. He then climbed out of his prison and ran to the nearest road, which he followed all night and all morning before he reached the little town of Warren.

"It truly is an amazing story," Benton said to his new friend. "We are all very lucky that none of us was seriously injured."

"I want to thank you, Dr. Quest, for taking care of my son," Dr. Barnes said, before drinking deeply from his mug of cider.

"It was my pleasure. Scott is a wonderful young man, and he assisted my sons and Jessie more than I can say. And please, call me Benton."

"Oh, all right," said the other scientist, "but only if you'll call me Joe."

"Joe," Benton nodded, smiling, "you and I must get together sometime soon and discuss physics. I am absolutely fascinated by the thesis that you wrote in the Stamford Business Journal about..." By then conversations had begun to spawn among the other occupants of the cozy living room. Flames crackled in the fireplace, and everyone seemed content for the first time in several days. Like the smoke rising up through the chimney, their voices dissipated into the starry winter night.


	8. Friday, December 29

Friday, December 29th

Jessie awoke early the following morning and lay quietly in bed for several minutes. She had not slept well throughout the night, but she did not feel tired. She had had nightmares all night and found it difficult to extinguish the memories completely. Remnants of the dreams remained with her as she crawled out of bed and opened the blinds allowing the early morning sun light to enter, illuminating her white comforter with an orangey-yellow glow. The shards of her nightly visions persisted as she pulled on her favorite pair of jeans and a warm white knitted sweater. She knew of only one way to banish unwanted memories and after braiding her long red hair, she left her room and hurried downstairs.

She left the house and stepped outside into the frigid early-morning air. She hurried across the snow-laden lawn toward the lighthouse, which overlooked the Atlantic Ocean. Jessie entered the base of the lighthouse, having to touch the hand plate on the wall outside to identify herself first, and climbed the first set of stairs to the second floor, which housed the computers hooked up to Quest World and three large padded chairs grouped in the center of the room. Each chair allowed whoever sat in it to enter the virtual reality universe of Quest World, by forming a green semi-circular laser beam across the eyes of the user, providing her a virtual entrance into Quest World.

Jessie did not linger on that level, though, but instead continued up the stairs to the third floor of the lighthouse. This floor was the observation level. It had windows all around as a means of allowing the occupant of the lighthouse to view any ships nearing the shore. The height also allowed an incredible view of the mansion and the surrounding grounds.

Jessie set down the backpack, which she had brought with her and removed a small computerized earpiece. She, Jonny, and Hadji each had one. A portable version of the VR chairs one level down from where she stood, this computer allowed her to access Quest World from anywhere. Jonny liked to use it for his more active computer games. The programs were so immersive, though, that Jonny had once almost launched himself off a balcony, while he had been fighting the images of creatures with giant scorpion legs and medusa heads. Jessie and Hadji had walked into the room to see Jonny heading toward the open balcony door, oblivious to his surroundings.

This is why Jessie had chosen this room in which to use the VR earpiece. Race, himself, had reinforced the windows with bullet-proof glass as a security measure, and Jessie had the option of raising the bars around the hole in the floor, from which the spiral staircase descended, so that she would not fall down the stairs. Once securing her environment, Jessie placed the earpiece on her left ear and said, clearly,

"Quest World logon. Subject: Jessie Bannon. Going hot." Instantly the green laser bar materialized over her eyes, and she found herself in the virtual reality Quest World. Her appearance had changed as well. Instead of her sweater and jeans, she now wore a seamless black body suit with pink trim on her shoulders and knees. (This had been IRIS's own adaptation, not an option of Jessie or any of the other members of the Quest family.) Her previously long braid of hair had been replaced by a sort of helmet of long red hair, with little braids working their way throughout the looser hair. But it was not her appearance in Quest World that mattered; it was her ability to adapt to the environment, and she was an expert.

Presently she stood at the gates of Quest World, so to speak. She had not yet voiced her choice of program, so the computer remained in ready mode waiting for her command.

"IRIS, open the program 'Kickboxing' using the specifications of 'Surd's New Quest World.'"

Acknowledged, IRIS replied.

Immediately, the world around her morphed into a life-like gym. Jessie now stood on a polyurethane-covered hardwood floor; a punching bag hung next to her. This was a simple sports program, which allowed the user to practice and improve her skills in whichever sport she chose, without actually feeling pain or soreness afterwards.

Jessie had, however, chosen different specifications for the program. She had opted for the conditions of a program that had been reformatted by criminal mastermind and psychotic killer Jeremiah Surd, who was Dr. Quest's arch nemesis. Surd had threatened the Quests and Bannons countless times in the past, but luckily they had always managed to thwart his plans and emerge safely from danger. On one occasion though, Surd had hacked into a program which Jessie and Jonny had been using, so that when they logged into Quest World it would not only lock them in the system, preventing them from logging out, but would also modify the rules of virtual reality, so that the users would sustain actual injuries if they were hurt in Quest World—they could also ultimately die, if they were killed in virtual reality.

When Dr. Quest realized what was going on and overthrew Surd from his reign over Quest World, he purged the program from the system. He did not know, however, that Jessie had saved a version of the program on a back up file. She knew that a program like that might benefit them in the future, and now she was glad that she that thought ahead. Accessing the rules from that program, she could now improve her skills at kickboxing while actually improving her muscles in real life. She stepped back from the punching bag and called to IRIS,

"Accessing boxing gloves." A pair of red boxing gloves materialized on her hands, as ace bandages wrapped themselves around her wrists. She threw a punch at the bag, feeling her fist connecting with the bag. After throwing a few idle practice punches, her mind began to wander back to all that had happened over the past few days. She remembered being attacked outside of the cabin and watching Jonny and Hadji being taken inside. She thought of the horror of falling through the ice, the frigid water rushing around her body; Joey and Scott pulling her out of the water; the walk through the woods. In her mind's eye, she saw the van parked along the side of the road, she saw Joey attempt to attack her and felt herself fighting back and knocking him to his knees. She envisioned the ride in the back of the van, remembered the feelings of fear and helplessness, remembered being kidnapped with Hadji a second time, being thrown in the car after thinking that Jonny had been killed, and finally fighting against Joey's last attack.

She had not even realized how hard she had been punching and kicking the bag until she twisted her ankle slightly and fell to the floor with a cry. She glanced down at her ankle and rotated it with some difficulty. It'll be fine, she thought to herself and stood up again, exhausted.

"IRIS, log me out of Quest World," Jessie said and felt the familiar warp speed pull backwards. When she felt her feet connect with solid ground, she pushed the button on the side of the earpiece, and the green laser bar disappeared. She once again found herself standing in the middle of the circular room, with the morning sunlight pouring through the unobstructed windows.

She looked down at her aching hands and found that her knuckles were red from her workout. Her ankle hurt a little, but even though she could apply pressure to it, she decided that she should take it easy for the rest of the day. She limped slightly as she walked toward the staircase and prepared to make her descent to the ground. She had not seen the turban-clad head that had disappeared from view a few moments before.



Hadji descended back to the floor level of the lighthouse, which acted as a little break room for those who were working long hours in the upstairs lab. The small circular room contained two armchairs, a small table, a coffee pot, a sink, and a couple of bean bag chairs. The floor was even carpeted and Hadji had always found the room to be quite comfortable. He had spent many nights holed up in the computer lab and had taken full advantage of this room's resources, but on that morning he did not linger there. He had not wanted Jessie to find him there and know that he had been spying on her.

He strode absently back to the mansion, not even caring to climb over the snow as he trudged along. Being an early riser, he had looked out of his bedroom window that morning to see Jessie approaching the lighthouse. He thought that it had been a little early for her to be awake on a vacation day, and he could not imagine what she might want to do in the lighthouse. As a precautionary measure, none of the kids were allowed to access Quest World from the computer lab without someone to sit at the computer console. The more he had considered the situation, the more he had worried about her.

She had been behaving very oddly lately. First she would seem distant and irritable, and the next moment she would act overly cheerful. She had also been avoiding eye contact with Hadji, which had disturbed him. He knew that she had been through an ordeal, and he understood that she would be emotional because of it—it was only natural. But he had the impression that she was trying to push away her feelings and hide them. He knew that she would not be able to keep this up for long, and he wondered if he should intervene. Instead he had decided to follow her to find out what she was up to and was relieved to find that she had made the precautions that she had before she had gone into Quest World. Now, as he walked back to the house, he had come to a decision—he had to talk with Jessie.



The rest of the household was awake when Jessie closed the front door of the mansion and entered the warmly lit living room. It seemed that everyone was in the kitchen—she could hear laughing voices emitting from under the swinging door. Maybe, she thought, I can sneak upstairs before anyone hears me.

"Hey, Jess," Jonny called from the staircase. He was descending the steps casually, his hands in his pockets, and upon reaching the bottom, he continued, "You ready for breakfast?"

"Yeah," she sighed, resignedly.

"Gosh, Jess, that bruise looks awful," he said, leaning closer to her face to get a better look. "How'd that happen anyway?" Jessie touched her left eye defensively.

"I don't even remember," she said quickly. "I guess it just happened along the way." She turned away from him and hurried toward the kitchen.

The noise in the kitchen increased by three times, as Jessie and Jonny pushed open the swinging door, and the crowd at the table hailed them, enthusiastically. Jessie put on a fake smile and settled in a chair between her parents. She could not remember afterwards what had transpired at the breakfast table that morning. She had smiled and nodded and laughed along with everyone else, but her attention had been elsewhere. She had been reliving the moments of the previous two days over and over again, and the thing that upset her most was that she was not sure if she was doing it intentionally, or if it was her mind harping on the events. A part of her wanted to forget all that had happened and get on with her life. She wanted to be foolishly happy like the other people at the table and have no worries. On the other hand, she sort of wanted to relive those moments. She supposed that remembering would make her stronger and encourage her to improve her fighting skills—so this would never happen again.

After breakfast she joined the family in saying goodbye to Dr. Barnes and Scott. Jessie told Scott that she had enjoyed getting to know him, and she thanked him again for all of his assistance. He gave her his phone number and hugged her good-bye. And then he was gone. She felt a sudden emptiness and after ascending the stairs to the second level, she just wandered the upstairs hallway until finally ending up in the guest room in which Scott had stayed. She sat down on the bed and listened to the quiet of the house. Everyone else was still downstairs, so there was nothing to interrupt the peaceful atmosphere of the welcoming guest room. She glanced up at the walls and noticed the mounted black and white photographs. Jessie had helped Dr. Quest decorate the guestrooms with Rachel's photographs. Dr. Quest had thought that Rachel's kind and welcoming spirit would induce anyone who stayed in the guest rooms to feel welcome in the mansion. It was Jessie, though, who had decided the placement of each frame.

She had chosen this room as the black and white room, thinking that the extreme contrast in the photographs would nicely complement the red comforter on the bed and white shag carpet. The guestroom on the other side of Jonny's room contained some of Rachel's color photographs in various sized frames, and the guest rooms on the West Wing showcased Rachel's watercolors. The guest rooms in the main part of the house contained a collection of black and white and color photographs, but with a wildlife theme. While the other guest rooms displayed landscapes, the ones in the main house exhibited pictures of Siberian tigers, African birds, and even Western American buffalo. Rachel had been only 29 when she had died, but she had already become an accomplished artist. She had published several of her photographs in southern journals and had displayed them in galleries in the Florida area as well. Because she and Dr. Quest had traveled frequently, she had had opportunities everywhere they went to broaden her portfolio, from the jungles of Malaysia to the mountains of Tibet. Dr. Quest had once related to Jessie that Rachel would be as excited to return from a vacation as she had been to go on the trip, because she could not wait to develop the film that she had taken. Dr. Quest had built a dark room in the Florida complex, and Rachel would spend hours there. Jessie supposed that Rachel had been as dedicated to her work as Dr. Quest was to his. Rachel had started painting while she was pregnant with Jonny, and she proved to be very talented at that as well, but her true passion had been photography.

Jessie sighed and looked down at her socked feet, digging them into the shag carpet. She was not sure how long she sat there, staring absently at the floor, when she heard someone walk up to the open doorway.

"Jessie, we need to talk."



Hadji said the words matter-of-factly, but tried to add as much compassion as he could. She glanced up at him, and he was at first unable to read her expression. She seemed distant again, but tired at the same time, like all of the grief was wearing her down.

"About what?" she asked without interest. Hadji took a step inside the room, but did not walk any closer to his friend. He did not want her to feel like he was pressuring her, cornering her.

"I think that you know what I want to discuss. We are in this together, my friends. We both endured much pain and fear. I wish only that you would talk to me about it."

"I'm fine, Hadji," Jessie replied, still not making eye contact. "I'm just tired. You know that none of us slept much this week."

"I am tired also, my friend, but I do not believe that fatigue is all that is bothering you."

"Well what do you want me to say then, Hadji? If you claim to know me so well, then you tell me what's wrong with me." She turned away from him, pulling her legs up on the bed. He closed his eyes for a moment, praying for strength before walking soundlessly over to the bed. He sat down across from her and took her hand in his. When

she finally looked up at him, he said.

"I know that this is difficult for you. I was scared too. You and I are the only ones who know what it was like to be there in that warehouse. But I understand that it was different for you. I wanted so much to help you...but, I..." his voice cracked, as he was consumed with emotion. He stopped speaking and stared past her instead.

"But you shouldn't have had to help me, Hadji," Jessie began softly, but her voice increasing as she spoke, impassionedly. "I should have been able to take him. I know how to get out of that kind of situation! I've practiced it!"

"And you did, Jessie. You threw him off of you, and he is a very strong man and much larger than you."

"But I should've been better." She broke off, as if she had intended on saying more but then decided against it.

"This is not your fault Jessie; you have to believe that."

"Hadji, I really don't want to talk about this."

"I know that it is painful to remember this, but I still feel that you should talk to someone about it. You do not have to speak with me, but you should tell your parents. They can get you the help that you need."

"No, Hadji! I'm fine." Jessie stood up abruptly and headed for the door, as Hadji reached for her arm, but before either of them could reach the hall, Race stepped through the doorway, blocking their path.

"Is everything all right in here? I can hear you two all the way down the hall." Neither of them answered at first; Jessie glared at Hadji, daring him to speak, and Hadji considered her, deciding whether or not he should tell Race. Finally he said,

"We are fine, Race. We are just discussing something."

"All right," Race said, skeptically. "Well, I'll be downstairs if you need me." He turned on his heels and left the room, leaving Jessie and Hadji standing silently in the ray of sunlight shining across the room. Finally Jessie sighed and turned back to the young man, who continued to look at her, concernedly.

"You're right, Hadji. I do need help. I can't go on like this." The tears glistened in her eyes, and Hadji wrapped his arms around her. After a few moments, Jessie let go of Hadji and brushed the tears from her eyes. Wordlessly she turned toward the door, and Hadji followed her down the hall and down the stairs. They found Race and Estella sitting in the kitchen with Benton, sipping coffee and talking animatedly about the upcoming New Year's party.

"Could I talk to you two alone?" Jessie asked her parents, hesitantly. It would not be easy for her to talk about this to anyone, Jessie decided, but it would be even more difficult to tell her parents, who were sure to overreact.

"Of course," Race said, looking slightly worried.

"Actually," Hadji spoke up, looking at Dr. Quest, "I was hoping that I could speak with you alone, too." Dr. Quest stood up and silently followed Hadji out of the room, while Jessie pulled up a chair at the table across from her parents. Where should I start, she thought.

That afternoon, Benton, Estella, and Race sat together in the living room, watching Jessie, Hadji, and Jonny running through the snow with Bandit outside of the window.

"I think she'll be fine," Estella was saying to Benton. "The state police took her report earlier and said that this new evidence against Joey and Steve will definitely help to put them away for a long time."

"I still can't believe that Jessie tried to hide it and lied about where she got that bruise. And Hadji was helping her to cover it up," Race exclaimed, incredulously.

"She was ashamed," Estella explained, shaking her head. "She had always believed that she was so strong and could handle anything. This was a real shock for her. I've heard about cases like this—women would rather forget it happened than talk about it and drudge up all of the emotions again." Benton nodded and added,

"Hadji had seen what hiding the truth had been doing to her. He's the one who finally convinced her to tell you. It's been hard for him too," Benton sighed and glanced out of the window again. "He feels so guilty about not being about to help her."

"Well, thank goodness that Jessie was able to throw that maniac off of her," Estella said, "before it went any further." The three sat in silence for a while again, lost in their own thoughts. Then Race spoke up,

"While you were on the phone with the police, Benton, I spoke with Jessie some more. She told me about a program in Quest World that she reformatted to improve her fighting skills. Clearly she feels the need to strengthen her moves as well as her physique, but her program is completely human-initiated. I thought that it might be a good idea if we had a program that could teach the kids self defense. I know that they already have a lot of skills, not to mention experience, but they could always learn more."

"That might be an idea," Benton agreed. "I'll see what I can do."

"I think," said Estella, "that it'll take more than just self-defense to help Jessie recover from this. We can't act like this happens all the time and make her feel like this is a constant threat. We touched on the topic of a psychologist this morning, when she spoke with us, and I feel that it's a good idea. Jessie and I set up an appointment for Monday. I didn't think that we'd get one until next week, but there was a cancellation." Race hesitated, but Benton said immediately,

"I agree, Estella. Jessie needs to work out her feelings before starting a self-defense program."

"Also," Estella continued, "I wanted to be able to attend the first session with Jessie before I leave on Monday." She allowed Race to absorb the impact of that statement before continuing. "I've decided that Jessie should stay here. She's obviously happy here, and I don't think that running away from danger is the best thing for her right now." Race smiled his appreciation, as Estella said, "Besides, her last visit to see me in South America was just as dangerous as any excursion that you've taken her on." Race silently agreed with his ex-wife, who was referring to when Jessie had almost come to her end, when she was accidentally infected with an ancient plague.

The three sat in silence, thankful for their children's safety.


	9. Saturday, December 30

Saturday, December 30th

While the family was at breakfast having waffles with whipped cream and strawberries, the phone rang. Dr. Quest picked up on the third ring.

"Hello," he greeted the caller, still laughing at a joke that Jonny had just told. "Oh, hi, Joseph; how was your drive home? Good. Oh, wonderful." Race, Estella, Jonny, Hadji, and Jessie had stopped talking and were watching Dr. Quest intently. "Wow, well that sounds great. Sure, I'll ask them. Just a moment." He turned to the faces staring back at him, and smiling back a giddy sort of smirk, he said, "Dr. Barnes has invited all of us to attend a winter faire sponsored by the local businesses in Landis, the town where he lives. He said it starts at 11:00 today. I know it's short notice, but do you want to go?"

"Sure," Jessie replied, excited about being able to see Scott again so soon.

"Slammin'," Jonny exclaimed.

"I think that's a yes," Dr. Quest said into the phone receiver. "We'll see you at noon."



It was flurrying as the Quest clan pulled their Land Rover to a stop in the great parking lot next to the Landis Park, where the faire was taking place.

Jessie stepped out of the back of the car, and closed the door, as she breathed in the cold, pure mountain air. She was in much better spirits than she had been the previous morning. Now that she had told her parents and the police the truth, she felt as if a weight had been lifted not only from her shoulders but also from her heart. The fear and anger having left her (mostly) allowed for other feelings to surface—feelings that she held for Scott. She had been so excited to see him, ever since Dr. Quest had announced that morning that they had been invited to spend the day with Scott and Dr. Barnes.

She had not spent much time with him, and the time that they had shared had been filled with fear and pain, but she had appreciated the way that he had shown concern for people whom he did not even know. She shuddered to think what would have happened to her, Jonny, and Hadji without his help.

She spotted him standing by a white gazebo with his father, looking amazing in jeans and a red sweater under an insulated black vest. As she approached him, with her family right behind her, she was immediately grateful that she and her mom had been able to cover her bruise so completely with makeup. She herself was sporting black jeans, a green turtleneck sweater, her renewed white coat, and her white knitted hat with her hair hanging loosed down her back; she felt that she looked pretty good.

"Hi!" Dr. Barnes called to them, waving as they approached the gazebo, hung with garlands and white lights. Indeed the faire looked very festive and inviting, decked with lights hung from tree bows and around evergreens. Tents had been constructed along the little cobblestone paths, which weaved themselves throughout the snow-caked historic park.

Already the park was filled with townspeople and holiday visitors, and the Quests, Bannons, and Barnes joined the throng of people entering the "Winter Wonderland," as the sign at the entrance announced.

After buying lunch of pizza under a pavilion along the side of the park, Drs. Quest and Barnes disappeared into a presentation that the local scientific community was giving concerning the harms of pesticides to the forests and wildlife of Maine. Race, Jonny, and Hadji headed toward the sporting events on the other end of the park, which featured snow tubing for $5 per person and ice-skating. Estella had ventured off into a collection of craft tents and tables.

"It appears that we've been deserted," Scott commented to Jessie, watching the members of their party dispersing in multiple directions. Jessie smiled her acknowledgement, but was not sure what to propose that they do, so she took a sip of her hot chocolate and glanced around the park at the happy faire-goers. She was not sure what Scott thought of her and she was not about to make a fool of herself if he did not share her feelings.

"So, wanna go for a walk?" He asked her, standing up from their table and pulling on his gloves.

"Sure, all right," she answered, somewhat surprised. The two walked in silence for a few minutes, watching the crowds and admiring the decorations. Finally Scott said,

"This week has been something else, hasn't it?"

"That's an understatement," she responded, laughing.

"I'm sorry that I dragged all of you into this."

"Hey, don't..." She stopped walking and grabbed his hand with her free hand. "This was not your fault. And it was nice having you there with us." They started walking again, and she let go of his gloved hand. "Jonny, Hadji, and I are used to danger. We've been in many more hopeless situations and gotten out of them alive." But this one definitely tops the list, she thought to herself, shivering at the memory. She did, however, feel more at ease with him now, remembering that he had gone through most of the terror along with them. She felt more comfortable being with him and found herself speaking freely.

"The first time my mom came to visit me at the mansion, Jonny and I were alone there, when my mom arrived. Hadji was in Bangalore, visiting with his mother and also taking care of some of his duties as Sultan."

"Sultan?" Scott exclaimed, stopping in his tracks again. Some people walking behind Jessie and Scott almost crashed into them, but accepted Scott's hasty apology and passed them, grumbling as they went. "Is Hadji a king or something?"

"I'm sorry, I thought I'd mentioned that earlier. Dr. Quest adopted Hadji when Hadji was only eight years old—Jonny had just turned seven. Dr. Quest had thought that Hadji was an orphan, because he lived on the streets of Bangalore. But then last year, he began having dreams about his mother. He thought she was dead, but we all traveled to Bangalore so that Hadji could talk to Pasha, the peddler who had taken care of Hadji before Dr. Quest adopted him.

"We found out that Hadji's father, the Sultan of Bangalore, had been assassinated by Hadji's uncle Deepak, who assumed the throne and threw Hadji's mother out of the palace. Deepak also ordered Hadji killed, but Pasha smuggled Hadji out of the palace instead and hid him in the city, deciding to raise him himself.

"Long story short, when we learned what had happened we went to the palace and overthrew Vikram, the current Sultan and son of Deepak. Then we rescued Hadji's mother who had recently been thrown in the dungeons. Hadji wasn't ready at sixteen to assume the throne, so he placed his mother in charge, until he should return."

"Wow, that's...that's amazing." He looked so stunned and speechless that Jessie could not help but laugh.

"I guess I'm so used to it, that it seems normal," Jessie said, "but I shouldn't have just sprung it on you like that," she giggled again, and he gazed at her for a moment, not speaking. Finally he said, as they began walking again,

"So you were telling me about your mom's first visit."

"Oh, right," Jessie continued. "Well, the three of us were alone in the house, when suddenly the security alarm system notified us that there were intruders on the lawn. Before we could react, though, the walls started collapsing around us, and these huge machines, shaped like giant spiders forced their way through the walls and grabbed each of us, pulling us inside the giant metal spider heads.

"Jonny and I knew, as soon as we saw the machines, that they belonged to Dr. Zin, a psychopath, who's been out to destroy Dr. Quest for years. When we finally reached our destination, we were inside an ancient pyramid in Egypt, and we were locked inside a room with hieroglyphics carved into the walls. Eventually we found a secret passage out and were looking for a way out of the temple when our fathers arrived with a friend they had enlisted to help them save us. Dr. Zin confronted us though, blocking our way out, and he used a mind control devise, which he wore on his forearm, to force Dr. Quest, my dad, and their friend Jade to grab Jonny, my mom, and me and jump over the edge of the bridge on which we were standing."

"How did you escape?" Scott asked, enthralled with the story.

"Jonny's dog Bandit saved us. My dad and Dr. Quest brought him along and he attacked Zin, biting his arm, and knocking the gilded mind control devise off of his arm.

"When we returned to the States, we had to spend the next few months in the Florida mansion, while we had the mansion in Maine rebuilt. After Zin's robots had destroyed the walls, they'd dropped a detonator and blown up the mansion. The fire department loved that one."

"How many mansions does Dr. Quest have?"

"Just the two," Jessie replied, realizing that just the two houses alone were worth millions even without the furniture, security systems, and inventions inside. "He used to live in the Florida Complex but moved to Maine after his wife died.

"You certainly do live an exciting life," he said, shaking his head.

"Well, what about you?" Jessie asked, rounding a turn in the path. "I don't know anything about you. Have you lived in Maine your entire life?"

"Pretty much," he said. "Dad moved here with my mother after they married. He knew some scientists in the area who were starting a research lab, and he decided that he wanted to be a part of it. He came from money, so he had enough saved to be able to afford a change like that, and my mom was a stay-at-home mom. I have an older sister too—Jennifer. She's away at law school in Albany.

"Well," Jessie responded, "it sounds like your dad and Dr. Quest certainly have a lot in common. I think that you and Jonny would get along pretty well too. You were saying the other night that you play soccer?"

"Yeah, I was on the varsity team at school."

They talked for hours and had wandered around the park over three times before they noticed that the sun was setting.

"We should probably try to find the others," Jessie said, not really wanting to have to share Scott's company. But she turned and started back toward the entrance to the park. Scott caught her arm though, and as she turned to face him, making eye contact, he said,

"Uh, I meant to ask you something...just something I've been wondering about." She continued to watch him, waiting for what was coming. "Is there something going on between you and Jonny?"

"What?"

"I mean, are you two...dating?"

"Oh," Jessie was so taken aback by the question that she almost laughed.

"No! No, we're not dating. Why did you think that we were?"

"Well," Scott's face was turning red, "he is a good looking guy and you talk about him a lot."

"Well, he and Hadji are my best friends, but I think of them more like brothers than boyfriends. Besides, Jonny has a girlfriend—my friend Alicia."

"Oh, okay," he said, somewhat embarrassed.

"So," Jessie began, taking advantage of a perfect moment, "we're having a New Year's Eve party tomorrow night. Would you want to come?"

"Sure," he said immediately, looking more at ease.

"Great. Well, it's getting dark. We'd better find our fathers." They turned to walk back up the path and in a swift and unplanned movement, Scott slid his hand into hers, lacing their fingers together. It felt so natural, that neither of them even noticed they were holding hands, until Jonny pointed it out to Jessie later that evening.

"You two an item now?"

"Oh, I don't know," Jessie responded, blushing. The two of them were sitting alone in the living room toasting marshmallows in the fireplace. It was nearing 10:30, and the rest of the family had already retired for the night.

Jessie was exhausted, and she would have retreated upstairs as well, but she had been meaning to talk with Jonny about something.

"Now that everyone else knows—well, I mean my parents, your dad, and Hadji know—I didn't want you to hear it from anyone but me." She took a deep breath as he watched her, confused. "I told you that when Hadji and I were held captive in that warehouse, Joey attacked me." Jonny nodded. "Well, he tried to rape me."

"What!" Jonny exclaimed.

"I got away, before he could. The gunshots outside startled him, and I pushed him off of me and ran away. But afterwards I couldn't stop thinking about it. Finally Hadji convinced me to tell my parents, and he had wanted to talk to Dr. Quest about it too."

"Oh, Jess," Jonny said, pulling her into his arms. "I'm sorry I couldn't have been there for you."

"It's all right, Jonny," she looked into his eyes. "I'm okay now. I'm going to see a psychologist for a few weeks, but I'll be all right." The two sat in silence late into the night and listened to the crackling fire.


	10. Sunday, December 31

Sunday, December 31st

Sunday dawned without a cloud in the sky. Jessie, Jonny, and Hadji were awake and dressed by 8:00, so they could begin preparing for that night's party. In the tumultuous affairs of the previous week, they had not had time to worry about the event, but they still had to buy and prepare the food, decorate, and tidy up the house a little before the guests began to arrive around 8:00 that night. They had invited almost sixty people, among the three of them, and they needed to make sure that there were enough chairs in the living and family rooms to accommodate everyone.

Dr. Quest and Race were working on security for that evening. IRIS knew of everyone who had been invited and had been programmed to allow only those select people through the front gate. Anyone else who showed up unexpectedly would be barred from entering through the gate and would have to announce him or herself at the intercom to the left of the gate.

Dr. Quest had also declared that his study and lab, the library, Race's suite (obviously), and the upstairs rooms were off limits. That left the living room, family room, kitchen, dining room, game room, and downstairs bathrooms as permissible. The guests were also allowed outside, as long as they stayed well clear of the lighthouse and the cliffs. Race had swept snow off of the patio outside the back door, in case any guest felt the need to stand outside in the frigid night air.

"Benton and Estella returned late in the afternoon leaden with grocery bags. "All right, kids," Estella shouted through the house, "Come in here and organize these groceries." Her announcement was followed by hurried footsteps approaching the kitchen.

The adults escaped from the chaos in the kitchen and retreated into the living room to enjoy the few remaining hours of peace. All three parents had agreed to stay out of the way when the guests arrived. In fact they would have volunteered. The thought of sixty screaming teenagers in one house was not Benton's idea of fun. He, Race, and Estella had planned on barricading themselves in Race's suite and watching Christmas classics all evening.

The guests began arriving at 8:00 and immediately headed for the snack table and music blasting from the family room. Jonny had already found his place in the center of a crowd of friends laughing hysterically at his jokes.

"Jonny certainly seems to be the life of the party," Scott commented to Jessie, who smiled, but then glanced over at Hadji, who too had a throng of people hanging on his every word. As the night wore on, Jessie introduced Scott to everyone at the party, who all wondered where Scott lived and how he and Jessie had met. Jessie told them simply that their fathers were friends, and that she and Scott had just happened to cross paths over Christmas.

"So, tell me," Scott whispered to Jonny, Jessie, and Hadji, after pulling them away from the crowd, "how did the three of you find us in the woods anyway. If you were skiing at least a mile away from where that cabin is, how did you hear us?"

"Well, we heard someone scream," Jonny replied, "but actually I forgot all about that after we found the cabin, and those guys attacked us. Who was the one who screamed?"

"Oh," Scott said, trying to remember what had happened. Then he began laughing and said, "That woman who was at the cabin with us stumbled over a rock and came face to face with a squirrel. She screamed, and the men rushed over to her, but the squirrel ran away immediately, and they all yelled at her for making such a ruckus. It's a good thing that she did though, if that's what led you to us. I don't know what I would've done without you and your fathers' help." The four enjoyed a good laugh at the memory, grateful that they were in a position to be able to laugh about it now.

A few moments before midnight, Jonny called everyone to crowd around the TV and watch the ball drop, as he, Hadji, Jessie, Scott, and Alicia handed out glasses of sparkling cider. Almost immediately people began to couple off, and Jessie was astounded at how some of her friends, whom she knew had not been dating anyone before tonight had suddenly found significant others. Before she knew it, Scott was standing at her side, and he smiled and said,

"Get ready." She knew that he was referring to the countdown, and at that moment she saw a digital counter appear at the bottom of the TV screen, but nonetheless she felt herself tense at the thought of what she wanted to happen at the stroke of midnight.

"Ten, nine, eight..." the crowd began to chant, and she chimed in methodically, automatically. "Two, one...Happy New Year!" Jonny had handed each guest a fistful of confetti, which now filled the room and glistened from reflecting the tiny Christmas lights. Couples all over the room began embracing each other, and suddenly Jessie found herself in Scott's arms. He looked at her intently, as she stared back into his green eyes.

"Happy New Year," He whispered, smiling at her.

"You too," she managed to answer and without waiting for him to make the move, she grabbed his head and pulled him toward her, kissing him hard on the lips. She had never done something so forward, but the feeling was exhilarating. When she opened her eyes, though, she heard amused giggling, and she looked around to see all eyes on her and Scott. She was sure that she was blushing furiously, but soon everyone had returned to their own matters.

"IRIS, secure the Compound," Jonny ordered.

_ACKNOWLEDGED_, IRIS responded. Jonny had just closed the door after the last of their guests had left, and he joined Jessie and Hadji as they began the cleanup process. The night had been a huge success, and although they were tired, the three teenagers were still reeling from the excitement of the evening. Jonny and Alicia had spent the entire evening together, and it looked as though Jessie and Scott were now an item. Hadji remained happily single.

"I will be glad to have a girlfriend, when the right person comes along. But for now I am quite content," he had told them. Jessie was in bed by 1:30, but she lay awake for several hours, remembering that kiss...


	11. Epilogue

Monday, January 1st

The family had gathered in the kitchen for a late morning brunch, after Jessie and Estella returned from Jessie's appointment, and all were bleary-eyed from the previous night's festivities. Estella's flight was at 4:00 that afternoon, and Race had insisted on driving her to the airport. They had made up since their argument on Christmas and had actually begun to become friends again. Jessie would have driven with them, but she and the boys had homework, which they needed to finish, not having had time to complete it earlier in the week.

Jessie had had only a little bit of homework, which she finished within an hour. She now lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She wished that she could have spent more time with her mother throughout the week, and she wondered if her mother would have come to the same decision if Jessie had not been attacked. But she knew the answer to that question. If Jessie and the boys had not been in danger throughout the week, and Jessie had spent her time here with her mother, they would have eventually talked things out and reached the same decision that they did.

Jessie had just closed her eyes allowing herself to doze off, when she heard the door creak. She opened her eyes and glanced over at the door, but she did not see anyone there. "That's strange," she thought to herself. "The windows are all shut, so not even a breeze could have moved the door.

Suddenly an orange object materialized about four feet off of the floor. It was a water pistol, which shot a stream of water at her.

"Hey," she exclaimed, sitting up. "What..." Then she heard laughing. "Jonny?

How..." she began to ask.

"Dr. Barnes gave us a sample of his invisibility potion on Saturday," Jonny's voice came from the direction of the water gun. Then he materialized as suddenly as the water pistol had. "He also gave us the antidote. His partners in California figured it out in time to send it back to him along with the original solution. Dr. Barnes is going to destroy all copies of it, but he gave us a sample as a way of thanking us." He smiled at her surprised look. "Of course, I don't know if I feel like sharing," he said, as he swallowed a tiny amount of the solution and disappeared instantly from view. The water pistol suddenly shot Jessie with water again and made a mad dash for the door.

"Jonny Quest!" Jessie shouted after him angrily and chased him out of the room.

(c) Copyright 2004 Jett Allyson

Song lyrics in Chapter 6, Wednesday, December 27th are from the song, "I'm With You,"

sung by Avril Lavigne.


End file.
